Intels Reveals Plans To Build Airstrip At Eleme

Intels Integrated Logistics Service has said it would build an airstrip at Ateo, Eleme in Rivers to enhance business at Onne Port.

Speaking during a facility tour of Intels, Mr Chibuisi Onyebueke told newsmen that with the airstrip in operation, Oil executives coming to Onne from Lagos can transact their businesses in a day without any problems.

He added that Intels was in partnership with the Lagos State Government to ensure that light planes could fly from Lekki to Onne and vice-versa. He also noted that the company has obtained the necessary approvals from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to kick off the project.

Speaking on power generation, Onyebueke urged the Federal Government to connect Onne Port to the National grid, as they consume 100,000 litres of diesel daily.

“We rely on generator to power our services and in the last 10-15 years, we have had several meetings with officials of the Federal Ministry of Power on how to restore electricity to the port.”

Onyebueke further disclosed that the firm has built 981 flats, 801 rooms hotel, a conference hall and a restaurant which could sit 1,500 people at once, adding that the company was a one-stop shop.

It is interesting to note that the company is not a foreign company as 85 per cent of its shares are owned by Nigerians.

Speaking on the “Challenges With the Corporate Social Responsibility Project in Intels,” the Deputy General Manager, Mr. David Alagoa said that the company has spent N3 billion on community relations as it has expanded its corporate social responsibllity to its 28 host communities.

He expounded that the mission statement of Intels was to create an environment in which the host communities and the company become fundamentally interdependent.

He added that the company had continued to make employment generation, empowerment and implementation of projects as its areas of focus.

Intels has a staff strength of 14,574, in addition to the host community graduate-trainee scheme.

Mrs Dorcas Ekong, the Administration Manager of Intels Women Empowerment Porgramme Scheme Strategy (WEPSS), said the skill acquisition centre trains women in sewing clothes to become self-reliant and to take care of their families.

According to her, our commitment is to close the gender gap. It is about creating the total woman. Two hundred women are working here as supervisors, operators and non-operators and they are earning wages.

The women were admitted as peasant farmers, fisher-women and later trained in sewing.

This programme started in 2013 and today the two production lines can roll out 300 coveralls (clothes) daily,’’ Ekong said.