By Francis Sadhere
Oil production activities were yesterday disrupted at the Jones Creek Flow Station operated by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), as youths and women from the host communities stormed the flow station and shut it down.
The protesters ordered oil workers to vacate the flow station in their best interests.
With this development, a total of 250,000 barrels per day of crude oil production have been shut in, thus cutting the nation’s aggregate oil production output.
Hosts to the Jones Creek flow station include four Ijaw and one Itsekiri communities, namely, Kokodiagbene, Okerenkoko, Akpatagbegbe, Akpataegbemu and Omadino, all in Warri South West local government area of Delta State.
Their key grievance, according to the spokesman of the communities, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, is the alleged breach of the Memorandum of under standing signed with them by the indigenous oil firm.
The communities urged the federal government to dig into the activities of NPDC and its major contractor, Nestoil, alleging that the award of contracts have not been following due process and the local content policy of government.
They also appeal to the security agencies, especially the Joint Task Force, not to play into the hands of the two oil firms as they put it, their demands were germane as the communities have been shortchanged for too long by the firms.
Comrade Mulade said: ‘’We are appealing to the federal government to carefully and thoroughly investigate NPDC and Nestoil over connivance to award contracts to themselves and their cronies. We have evidences to buttress our claims on the contracts and other sharp practices going on in the two firms.
‘’We are also appealing to the security agencies not to allow the oil firms to use them against the host communities because of their interests but they should look at the issues critically because the communities are major stakeholders in the business.”
They however bemoan the devastating effects of oil exploration and exploitation activities, which they underlined have wiped out means of livelihood and destroyed the pristine beauty of their environment.
