Blessing Iruoma, Port Harcourt
A group, the Ogoni Oil Producing Communities Forum has expressed its grave reservations on the reports of the granting of the operating License of OML 11 to the National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
According to the statement signed by Mr. Barituka Loanyie, President, and Norcross Wifa, Secretary of the group, on Sunday, “that NPDC does not have any capacity to exploit oil and does not have the requisite pedigree of good corporate social responsibility. Indeed, communities where they have operated have told stories of woe”.
The group recalled that during a solidarity visit by some Ogonis to President Mohammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the President said that “NNPC is hereby directed to engage all host communities, particularly Ogoni people to ensure inclusive process of oil and gas exploration and production is anchored on optimum involvement of host communities”.
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The community stated that “The President’s stance which seems to recognise the need for dialogue, inclusiveness and the involvement of host communities in the oil and gas exploration and production processes, falls flat when we realise that our people were neither consulted nor carried along in the processes that led to the granting of the operating License to the NPDC”.
According to the statement “After due and thorough consultation with the Youths, leaders, elders and Chiefs of the oil and gas host communities in Ogoni, we hereby state that the granting of the operating License of to the NPDC is unacceptable and stands rejected.
“We also want to reiterate for the umpteenth time that our people are not against the resumption of oil and gas exploration in Ogoni as, if properly done, it could help stimulate some economic growth and empowerment for people. We are, however, against any plan to reenter Ogoniland for oil exploration through the back door. Such approach had failed in the past and will fail again this time.
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“Granting of oil License to any company to operate in Ogoni without due consultation and peaceful engagement with our people is completely unacceptable .The Ogoni people would non violently resist it. We have done it before and we can do it again.
“The Federal Government are hereby advised to retrace their steps and do the right thing in the interest of peace, equity, and justice”.
They therefore, advised the Ogoni, “to be conscious of our recent history and thus should always seek and obtain broad consultations and buy in of different layers of Ogoni Leadership including the Oil Producing Communities before embarking on what has become recurring visits to Abuja to reach agreement over oil resumption in Ogoni when in fact they represent only themselves”.
