The people of Umuokilide and Umuochidepelu Communities in Ukpeliede Town in Ahoada-West Local Government Area of Rivers State have called on the Rivers State and Federal Government over what they term total neglect by the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) despite being landlords to Oshie 7 and Oshie 12 oil wells where the multinational is currently drilling oil in commercial quantities.

Traditional head of Umuokilide Community, Chief Saturday Ossai, and the Women Leader, Lendy Orlu-Miller, who made this call in a chat with newsmen during a protest to the company where the angry looking men and women barricaded the entrance gate leading to the oil wells with rafia leaves.

They also carried placards with different inscriptions such as “We Say No to the Hostile and Inhuman Treatment of Agip”, “Agip, Pack and Go Because You Have Failed Us”, among others,

The Community leader traced the discovery of oil in the affected communities to 1974, pointing out that since then no development has come to the affected communities, lamenting that despite the communities being impacted by the oil and gas exploration activities of Agip, the company has, against every international protocol for host community engagement, refused to discharge its corporate social responsibilities to its host communities.

They regretted that since Agip was given license by the Federal Government to operate the said oil wells, it has done nothing to compensate the affected communities for the environmental degradation and pollution occasioned by the company’s oil and gas exploration activities there.  

According to Chief Osai, landlords of the oil wells live in abject poverty with mud houses littered all over and lack of other basic amenities such as healthcare and educational facilities, potable drinking water, and good roads, noting that their children were jobless with no skills or training opportunities.

They wondered why any of their sons and daughters cannot get employment opportunities with Agip despite the peaceful atmosphere pervading the communities which has enabled the oil giant to operate for over four decades.

Other members of the communities, Garrick Jacob and Eyee Olokuma said the communities cannot boast of a town hall and no empowerment opportunities for their women, stressing that with the invasion of the corona virus pandemic, the health status of members of the communities have been adversely affected with no health facility or covid19 palliative from Agip.

The communities demanded, among other things, surveillance jobs, employment, code number, women empowerment, contracts, building of community town halls, health care facility, monthly allowance, skills acquisition program, local and foreign scholarships.

They appealed to the Federal and Rivers State Governments to intervene even as they threatened to shut down the oil wells if nothing was done to assuage the very disturbing situation.  

Reacting to the development, President General of Ekpeye Youth Congress Worldwide, Ogboka Chris Umeda warned of a total shut down of the oil wells within 60 days of no action by Agip, stressing that the company has failed in its corporate social responsibility to its host communities.

Some environmental activists, who showed solidarity against Agip, revealed that oil and gas exploration in the area has brought about environmental degradation hence the need for periodic environmental impact assessment as well as dispensing of corporate responsibility to the affected host communities to assure smooth operations.