A Niger Delta group under the aegis of Coalition of Rivers Oil and Gas Host Communities(CROGHCOM), has resented the plan by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) to give up contracts such as fencing, grass cutting and security to indigenes of Ogoni land when it resumes oil drilling in the area.
In a press statement issued in Port Harcourt and signed by the chairman, Barituka Loanyie, stated that the group had sighted a document entitled; ” The Ogoni Re-entry Project Execution Plan, which was written by NPDC,proposing that the company will Cede certain contracts to Ogoni communities and that contracts such as citadel fencing, grass cutting and security booths are strictly for the communities’ contractors.
The group regretted that rather than give major contracts to the Ogoni people who will suffer from the operations of the company, NPDC preferred to give it to outsiders.
They wondered why major contractors would be recruited outside Ogoni land as some of them do not have the interest of the area.
Furthermore, the group said such plan was inclined to cause crisis and kicked against its execution.
The statement reads in part; ” Beyond other dark edges surrounding the quest by NPDC to commence oil exploration and exploitation in Ogoni, our coalition has sighted the document underpinning their re-entry plans into Ogoni”.
“The document entitled, “The Ogoni Re-entry Project Execution plan” reveals a number of companies already shortlisted to be awarded different contracts upon recommencement of oil exploration in Ogoni”.
“It shows that top jobs in different Ogoni communities will be awarded to these already identified companies”.
“To add insult to injury, page ten of the same document clearly proclaims that the indigenes of Ogoni would be given contracts for grass cutting, fencing, security and the like”.
“We see these steps not only as insulting and senseless but inhumane and a precursor for conflict”.
“We want to state that this path taken by NPDC is familiar to the Ogonis. It is the same path that led to the pogrom meted on them which claimed the lives of thousands of prominent and promising sons and daughters of that land”.
” Therefore, we will not sit idly and watch NPDC and its sidekicks institute or instigate another round of bloodbath in the beautiful land of Ogoni”.
“The Ogoni issue is a peculiar one, and we want NPDC to know that if after the years of the Ogoni struggle and huge sacrifices, what they think the Ogonis deserve are mere grass cutting and security jobs, then it is the view of our Coalition that it the crudest mindset for which we would not support”.
“The senseless attacks and killings presently going on in some communities in Ogoni should be a thing of primary concern to everyone who means well for Ogoni and not the hasty and clandestine attempt aimed at the so-called re-entry”.
” It smacks of insensitivity and callousness for some individuals to present themselves as merchants of conflict who are set on commercialising the pains and struggles that our past and present heroes in Ogoni fought and died for”.
“We, therefore, call on NPDC to desist from the divide and rule tactics in Ogoni by forcefully trying to re-enter into Ogoni through the back doors as it will definitely hit a brick wall”.
“The coalition will take and follow every legal action to ensure that the rights of our people are protected”.
