By Our Reporter
A group under the auspices of Isoko National Youth Assembly (INYA), has accused Heritage Operational Energy Services limited, operator of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 30 in Delta, of allegedly aiding and abetting oil theft and bunkering in Delta State.
Heritage Oil Limited had come under fire after its denied owing local contractors huge sum of money as alleged by foremost youth group, IJaw Youth Council (IYC) a week ago.
Joining the leagues of groups calling for the revocation OML 30 to Heritage, the President, Isoko National Youth Assembly worldwide, Comrade Ovie Umuakpo, described as gross irresponsibility and incompetence activities of Heritage in OML 30 host communities.
Speaking to newsmen in Ozoro, the Isoko North Council headquarters, on Tuesday, Comrade Umuakpo, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently revoke the license granted Heritage before it is too late.
He said that the region is witnessing the highest rate of oil theft and bunkering under the watchful eyes of Heritage Operational Energy Services Limited.
“Just go round some of our communities and see the level of active oil theft and bunkering going on both day and night under the supervision of the company.
“They continue to aid and abet these illegal activities first, when they decided to award oil surveillance contracts to a company who has the faintest idea about the Isoko terrain and indeed terrains around their operational base.”
He said that critical stakeholders like ethnic nationalities youth leaders as well as local community youth leaders are supposed to be the ones engaged in securing oil facilities as it was done in the past and not some few who are aiding bunkering in the area.
The group also lambasted Heritage Operational Energy Services Limited, for being ‘irresponsible’ in their oil exploration activities and relationship with local contractors and host communities.
Umuakpo said that the company does not possess the know-how and character expected of any manager of the largest mining lease second only to Nembe, Bayelsa state.
“Never in our history have we witnessed such irresponsibility from a supposed corporate organization who is careless about the survival of companies indigenous to the host environment.
“They award major contracts to their own selves through companies they have deep vested interest in and award abysmal contracts to our people.
“Even at that, our people go unpaid for very long periods of time causing them to be heavily indebted to their creditors as well as unable to impact meaningfully to the communities through gainful engagement of our youths”.
The youth leader also decried Heritage’s style of engaging youths outside her host communities in blatant disregard to the local content rule, a development which he said may trigger unrest and destruction of facilities within their domain.
Consequently, Umuakpo called on President Buhari to urgently revoke the licenses granted Heritage so that its activities doesn’t dragged the nation back to the ugly era of heightened militancy and crippling of the economy.
All efforts to get comments from Heritage Oil Limited proved abortion as of press time but in an earlier statement, the oil firm denied the allegation of being incompetent to run the Oil Mining Licence.
The company had also denied that it was deliberately owing local contractors, saying some invoices inherited when they came on board in 2017 were unverified. It said that the verified invoices are being paid while investigating others.
The oil firm also said it had reduce to a large extent the level of oil theft in its host communities, particularly along the Trans Forcados Pipeline.
