An e-library has opened in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, making it the second after the hybrid library opened in the Garden City by Shell. It is expected to help in studying the history of oil and gas in the world.
The new e-library, just commissioned by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), is located at the western section of Port Harcourt while the first was at the eastern section.
The latest sponsored by PENGASSAN is said to be dedicated to the past president of the oil-based trade union, a N1.5 billion e-library and multipurpose centre in Rumuodumanya in Obio/Akpor LGA of Rivers State.
The event centre is said to be for the immortalisation of the immediate past national president of the union, the late comrade, Francis Olabode-Johnson. The facility has halls, ultramodern e-library, auditorium, facility for catering services, etc. The one opened by Shell has both hard copies and e-copies established to make Niger Delta scholars gain access to some of the richest libraries in the world.
The Shell facility was donated to the Port Harcourt library society to manage to keep it viable.
Commissioning the latest centre in Port Harcourt, the National President of PENGASSAN, Nduka Ohaeri, said the e-learning centre was the vision of late Francis Olabode-Johnson, and would be used to keep history of oil and gas development in the country.
Ohaeri also disclosed that plans are underway for the union to set up an LPG plant in Rivers State as a means of creating jobs for the public and also to generate revenue for the union, as the union’s only source of revenue has been check-off dues from members.
He said; “The library is principally going to be looking at oil and gas development in Nigeria. It is not enough people read in history that oil was first discovered in Olobiri. So we are going to put documents, where people will come in to read about oil and gas, as well as the policies that have guided this God-given resources.
“The e-learning centre will be a reference for research, it will also provide history and documents on PENGASSAN as one of the foremost union in Nigeria, our achievements, prospects and challenges.”
Also speaking, the Port Harcourt zonal chairman of PENGASSAN, Azubuike Azubuike, disclosed that the centre was all members of the public.
This is our own way of contributing to societal development and again as a way of immortalizing our late leader, and to also encouraged the living that the good things they have done for the society will not be in vain.
The e-library and multipurpose centre is open for all members of the public to subscribe, we are not creating any class, because class is what brings about inequality in the society, and inequality is what brings about crime, which is what PENGASSAN wouldn’t want to do.
Also speaking, the chairman of Obio/Akpor Local government area of Rivers, Solomon Ekeh, commended PENGASSAN for the level of development sited in Obio/Akpor, saying that he was the one who gave approval free of charge before the building was done in his tenure and it was completed in his tenure. He said he was overwhelmed by the kind of investment done in the local government by PENGASSAN.
Meanwhile, Adeswa Olabode-Johnson, widow of the immediate past PENGASSAN president, expressed joy for the project that would keep her husband’s dream alive.
