Youths of Aleto, a major host community of the multi-billion dollar Indorama Eleme Fertiliser and Chemicals Company Limited on Wednesday braved the rains to protect the delay in the payment of the community’s dividends from Indorama.
The youths blocked the busy Old Port Harcourt Road, set up camp and sang protest songs as early as dawn. They demanded that the community trust should pay up the several arrears of the dividends of the community running into billions on naira and give account of their tenure.
Though the youths were said to have taken their protest to the council of chiefs of the community, the chiefs did not give them a satisfactory answer. The road to the palace of the paramount ruler of the community was also blocked during the protest.
The military and police personnel deployed to clear the road were not able to persuade the youths to leave the road as of the time of filing this report. Shops and businesses in the area covered by the protest remained closed.
At the heart of the protest was the expiration of the tenure of the community trust committee, which had refused to hand over their affairs.
A new trust committee had emerged thereby creating factions in the community. Last month, the member of the House of Assembly representing Eleme, Dr. Aforji Igwe Obey, who is from Aleto took the matter to the Senate, where the community was directed to go back home and resolve the issue of the community trust.
After many years of agitation, the former company managing the shares of host communities of Indorama, Elano Investments Limited relinquished the shares and the communities formed trust communities to handle their respective shares.
Aleto community set up its own trust committee for a fixed tenure of three years. But the youths said after three years, the committee refused to hand over to the next committee. This led to an institution of court proceedings, which has stalled the release of the dividends to the community.
