By Our Correspondent.
The people of Opuama/Ikpotogbene Community in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State have warned the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) to immediately halt oil exploration and exploitation activities in its community or they will be forced to shut their actitivities down.
The community alleged that the company did not follow due process before its ongoing operation in the area.
They faulted the decision of the company to abandon the process initiated to fashion a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the host communities and the NPDC.
While addressing newsmen in Sapele, members of the Opuama/Ikpotogbene community under the aegis of Concerned Oloduwa Descendants chided the company for “entering our native-land and commencing clearing as well as dredging work without conducting the necessary Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)”.
Beside the central issues of an MoU and conducting of environmental impact assessment, the community listed a number of other demands in a statement, which the people insisted should be captured in acceptable terms of engagement between it and the NPDC.
The statement, titled “Our Demand”, was signed by Mr French O. Ukuto, Chief Samuel Peggy, Chief Stephen Ukulor, Engineer Elisha Ukuto as well as Mrs Alero Ugedi, Ati Reach, Mrs Evelyn Ukulor, DSP (retired) Abel Sule, Ebipade Elisha and Damage-Clark Aboh.
This is coming barely days after the NPDC, which is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was given a similar notice to quit their community for alleged illegal entry and commencement of operations in the locality.
Youths, women and elders of Polobubo (Tsekelewu) Community in Warri North had last week issued a seven-day ultimatum to the NPDC to vacate their community land or face the wrath of the people allegedly for “being taken for a ride by the company that is suppose to be indigenous”.
Explaining the motive for the “quit notice” at a press briefing in Warri last weekend, the Polobubo (Tsekelewu) National Council (PNC) noted that the company had practically jumped by neglecting the basic things necessary to clear the way for peaceful exploration and exploitation operations by any oil company.
The National President of PNC, Ebilate Mac-Yoroki, who addressed the press flanked by several other leaders and representatives of the community, including youth, noted that the NPDC, which operates the divested stakes of the oil multinational; Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in their area, commenced operations without any attempt to get strike an agreement with the community.
The leaders and representatives of the people of the community further stressed that they had hoped that the NPDC would toe the line of the first oil operators in the community, Shell, which they said entered into some kind of memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the community until the company reportedly sold off its equities in the operation a couple of years ago.
Nevertheless, they argued that it was unusual and wrong for the NPDC to commence various activities in the area including dredging, clearing and general oil prospecting activities without the basic Environmental Impact Assessment Analysis (EIA) or a GMoU jointly signed by the company and the people.
They alleged that the NPDC by its posturing appeared to have “chosen the path of war rather than that of peace, because we’re are a peace loving people.
Mac-Yoroki said that an earlier lease existing between his community and the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) about 40 years ago had lapsed and that it was in the process of entering another agreement that the company sold its stakes out.
He further said that the new company had commenced the dredging of a channel from their community into the ocean without carrying out an EIA and thereby devastated the area, destroyed their source of water supply and generally endangered the people’s means of livelihood.
Reacting to the fresh demand by the Opuama/Ikpotogbene in a telephone chat, Mac-Yoroki pointed out that the affected communities were mainly made up of Oloduwa descendants, saying they were all arms in gloves together in the struggle against the alleged “monumental injustice against our people by NPDC”.
He stressed, “Our demands are not outrageous but reasonable and in line with global best practices in the oil and gas industry”, Mac-Yoroki said.
He listed some of the demands beside the EIA and 40% Local Content in contracts award: “Execute an MoU that will comprise the following: 1. Appointment of our qualified people as management staff; 2. Employment as junior staff; 3. Ten per cent Equity ownership for Opuama and Polobubo; 4. Reclamation of land for Opuama and Polobubo; Establish and Operational Base at Agoduba as Chevron did for Escravos.
“They have a draft GMOU and inside that GMOU there is a clause that the document will not be effective until it is negotiated and signed into. To our amazement, instead of the company to call us to say we should sit down and discuss this document, there has not been anything like that, rather the company preferred to go through the back door and operate, even to the extent of exploiting the crude as we speak.
“We see it as a way of slighting us and as if that is not enough, telling us that we don’t have enlightened people, who know their right from their left, otherwise there’s no way the company will draw a draft and for another year running, it has not even said let’s talk about it. The national body has written about twice, written and then sent a reminder to the company, calling them to dialogue table, but the company didn’t bother; no response and no acknowledgement of the letters that we have written at the national level to the NPDC.”
It was gathered that youths and women from the communities are planning a protest march in Warri before the commencement of activities expected to halt all NPDC activities in the area, even as NPDC’s official reaction through its Manager (External Relations Department), Mr Ugo Atugbokoh, was still being awaited.
