A group under the aegis of Ogoni Youths Devlopment Initiatives have expressed dissatisfaction with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited(NNPLC) for its refusal to fund the Federal University of Environment Technology(FUET), Saakpenwan, Ogoniland and called on the corporation to immediately release funds for development of the institution.
The Global President of the group, Comrade Imeabe Saviour Oscar made this known at a world press conference in Port Harcourt, on Sunday.
He said that the group was aggrieved by the corporation’s refusal to pay contractors executing various projects on the campus.
This, he further said had led to many projects being abandoned and contractors locking out students and lecturers from accessing some facilities due to non-payment.
“So many students are currently without hostels, classroom blocks, laboratories for studies. Everything about the project execution is now a stalmate in the school”, he added.
The president wondered why other institutions established around the same time with FUET by the Federal Government have got funding for their operations, while FUET was yet to get.
He threatened that the group would occupy NNPCL offices in Abuja and Port Harcourt if by March 7, 2026, the corporation failed to meet their demand.
Saviour recalled that after the establishment of the university, the NNPCL was directed to begin renovation work at its temporary site and provide funding for its smooth take-off as part of confidence-building measures following talks with Ogoni leaders over the planned resumption of oil exploration in Ogoniland.
“We have it on good authority that part of the confidence-building measures for the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoniland is the establishment of FUET, alongside the mandate of President Bola Tinubu that the NNPCL should take over the renovation of the school and also provide funding for its take-off.
“However, we note with great dismay the refusal of the NNPCL to heed Mr President’s directive.
“We frown deeply at this deliberate action by the NNPCL to truncate the smooth take-off of the institution by reneging on the agreement between the Ogoni people and the President.”
“As a body, we are being forced to view this as deceit or a deliberate action by the NNPCL to breach the terms of the agreement with the Ogoni people.
” Consequent upon this, we are giving the NNPCL a seven-day ultimatum to immediately release funds for payment of the contractors and development of the institution or risk us occupying the gates of its office”, he threatened.
Speaking further, Saviour said the body had earlier written to the Group Chief Executive of the NNPCL and the Office of the National Security Adviser on the plight of the institution.
It would be recalled that the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Chinedu Mmom, during a news briefing to announce the institution’s maiden matriculation in February, lamented that since FUET was established following a bill signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on February 2, 2025, the university had yet to receive any take-off allocation or grant.
