Ndoshimili gives FG, Oil companies two weeks to meet their demand or….

By Unue Emeka,

 

Ndoshimili Indigenous People of Ndokwa East (NIPONE), Delta State has given the federal government and companies operating in the area two weeks to meet their demand of addressing years of neglect and be ready for a faceoff with them.

 

NIPONE in a statement signed by its Chairman, Dr. Olise Imegwu, Secretary, Dr. Adaobi Ugbomeh and seven others on behalf of the people of Ndoshimili, stated that though their communities host a lot of oil-well heads, they can’t lay claim to the ownership of any oil well.

 

The decried that, “it’s painful to note that although our communities are awash with oil wells, the ownership of which have been given to other people.

 

“We have also been denied the benefits of being host to oil, gas and Independent Power Plant. We, as a people have today, resolved to take immediate steps to right these wrongs.”

 

The statement listed the demands to include the immediate provision of adequate funding and commencement of the Asaba-Oko-Utchi-Aboh-Abalagada-Patani Coastal Road; immediate provision of electricity to all the communities in Ndokwa East; and that the Federal Government direct oil and gas exploration companies in the LGA to relocate and maintain operational administrative offices in the area.

 

The group further demanded that their people be given the right of first refusal, “to our qualified sons and daughters regarding employment positions in all the oil and gas companies operating in local government in the spirit of local content principle,” adding that “all roads used by oil and gas companies and their vehicles in the area must be fixed.”

 

They equally called for the immediate dredging of the River Niger and adjourning rivers in Ndokwa East to curtail the recurrent flooding of the communities and installation of shoreline protection along the bank of the River Niger.

 

“We are calling for the immediate dredging of the River Niger, and adjourning Rivers in Ndokwa East, and installation of shoreline protection in all our communities on the bank of the River Niger to prevent the annual devastation from flooding of the river.

 

“It is very unfortunate that the oil and gas companies have over the years refused to pay tenement rate to NELGA/host communities. We hereby demand the companies to make their payments up to date.”

 

The statement also requested that all the oil and gas companies provide evidence of MoU compliance for operating in Ndokwa East LGA; that all abandoned NDDC projects be completed immediately; an end to the “practice of some people sitting in Abuja or Asaba to decide what is good for our communities or who will represent our interests, this approach must stop.”

 

They stressed that the people of the area can no longer sit and watch the lives of their people destroyed, as the injustice had pushed them to a point of resistance, and therefore has no other option but to protect their lives.