A civil society organisation, the Niger Delta Liberation Movement, has called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Chevron, Heritage Oil, Selplat, and Conoil to address the issues surrounding the marginalisation of the people of the Niger Delta region, especially the Itsekiris, in their organisations, News About Nigeria reports.
The group made this call in a statement signed by the secretary to the group, Mr. Emmanuel Tagbanaraewumi, giving them a seven-day ultimatum to put an end to the issues.
They stated that the host communities in the Niger Delta have been neglected for too long, adding that the organisations’ mode of employment was skewed against the Iwere.
They lamented that the NNPCL and its JV partners have explored oil in the Warri Kingdom and oppressed them for over 60 years, stressing that they have refused to provide their coastal communities with basic amenities.
“The Niger Delta Liberation Movement, also known as MOVEMENT, has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the NNPCL, including all its partners such as Chevron, Heritage Oil, Selplat, and Conoil, among others in Warri, to, as a matter of urgency, address issues of nonchalance, marginalisation, and neglect of its host communities in the Niger Delta, particularly Warri.
“In solidarity with the agitation of the Fitters Senior Staff Association of Nigeria that protested the non-employment of indigenous community skill workers in Dibi, Olero, Abiteye, and Escravos units, this has become necessary. Recently, the graduate associations of Itsekiri, Ijaw, and Ilaje agitated against being sidelined in employment by Chevron, whose management engaged in an illegal employment scheme, refusal of Chevron to convert VTP5/OTP2 and VTP6 with other community workers to permanent staff.
“It should be noted that the Itsekiri nation has been brutally oppressed by the NNPCL and its JV partners operating in Itsekiri’s homeland in over 60 years of oil exploration,” the statement reads in part.
The group added that abnormalities like the provision of potable water, the provision of health care, the provision of electricity to local host communities, and the provision of means of transportation within the riverine communities in Warri, among others, should be addressed, maintaining that failure to do so will attract consequences.
