Members of Kantu and Odidi oil-bearing communities in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest at Odidi Flow Station in condemnation of “frequent pipeline leaks leading to continuous destruction and degradation of the environment and the means of livelihood of the residents.”
The protesters, comprising community youths and women, who wielded placards with different inscriptions, gave the management of NEPL/NECONDE “a seven-day ultimatum within which to commence genuine implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act process and payment of the 3% of 2022 Operating Expenses as stipulated by the PIA with immediate effect.”
The inscriptions on the placards include “Replace Trans Forcados Pipeline now to save our environment,” “Stop treating host community workers with less value,” “We demand scholarships, employment for host communities,” and Stop hijacking host communities contracts” among others.
The protesters threatened to shut down operational activities in the entire OML42 in Delta State if their demands were not met.
They appealed to the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to order those concerned to commence full replacement of the said pipeline instead of the sectional repair works being planned without recourse to its negative implications on communities and the environment.
The protesters claimed that the leaking Trans Forcados Pipeline which was constructed in the early 1960s “has outlived its life span long ago, leading to continuous pollution of our environment and destruction of our ecosystem, creating hardship for the locals.”
In a statement jointly signed by the Chairman of Kantu/OML42 Communities Forum and the Chairman, Odidi Federated Communities, Mr Windfree Atemubaghan and Preye Okrikpa, respectively, they noted with concern that “the ageing Trans Forcados Pipeline has been destroying our environment because it has expired and cannot withstand the pressure of crude oil transported through it”.
The statement further canvassed for the award of all community-based marine and other service contracts to indigenous contractors, in line with the Nigeria Local Content Act.
Responding, the Site Superintendent of NECONDE, Ekene Onyenekwe, and the NPDC representative at the flow station, Ayodeji Ayinde, commended the host communities for their peaceful conduct and promised to take their grievances “to the appropriate quarters, and follow it up.”
