Mary Okpalaume
The Okpe Scholars Association has condemned the non-inclusion of Okpe Kingdom in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Pipeline Surveillance Contract awarded to various ethnic nationalities by the Federal Government.
In a statement signed by the President of the association, Chief Williams Avwigborighe and the Secretary Engr. Lucky Oghomiriona and made available to Our Correspondent, the group opined that Okpe Kingdom has for a long time been “cheated, short-changed, undermined and deliberately marginalized by the NNPC and the Federal Government.”
It stated that Okpe Kingdom which comprises Sapele and Okpe Local Government Areas plays host to other oil companies like Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited and Nigeria Gas Company Limited adding that the companies have enjoyed a peaceful atmosphere because of the peace-loving nature of the Okpe people.
The statement condemned the federal government for failing to empower jobless and unskilled youths from the host communities.
The group noted that the kingdom is the third largest oil producing community in Delta State and has oil wells in Ugborhen, Amukpe, Sapele, Ugbokodo and other communities with oil pipelines in Jeddo, Mereje, Elume, Amukpe and Sapele dating back to the 1970s but expressed surprise that the communities are yet to benefit from them.
“Since 1970 when these pipelines passed through Okpe land, no benefit has been given to the Okpe people but to our greatest surprise, other ethic nationalities like the Ijaws, Itsekiris, Isokos, were given contract quotas for pipeline surveillance by the federal government to empower their youths. A question that pops up is where the Okpe’s contract quota for pipelines surveillance is?”
The association therefore urged the federal government and NNPC to correct the grievous error by allocating to Okpe her own quota in the Pipeline Surveillance Contract for the interest of equity, justice and peace
