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| L-R: Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, Gov, Udom Emmanuel, Sen Godswill Akpabio and Dr Ibe Kachikwu during Osinbajo one-day visit to Akwa Ibom recently. |
When Vice President Yemi Osinbajo came to Akwa Ibom State for his one -day
official visit as Acting President, former governor, Senator Godswill Akpabio,
might have stolen the show with his razzmatazz of a speech.
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| Chief Nduese Essien presenting the position of oil communities to acting president |
But when it came to presenting the real needs of the state,
especially the oil producing
communities, it was better
handled by the former
Minister of Housing and a two-term member of the
House of Representatives, Chief Nduese
Essien, who spoke on
behalf of the oil producing communities:
“The story of oil
production in the oil bearing areas of
Akwa Ibom State is a history
of wanton destruction,
reckless exploration and exploitation with a resultant devastation that knows no bounds. It is another case of
man’s inhumanity to other men. Apart from the 13 percent derivation paid to the
state government, there is little or nothing to show that the area is oil producing.
“In spite of the fact that
Akwa Ibom is the largest oil producer, the
Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC), has no office
in the state; none of the 12 NNPC
subsidiaries is located in the state; no oil depot for refined petroleum products. “The communities are not shareholders in the oil industry,
but are called and treated as, ‘Tank Farms’ in the industry. The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), operates from a two-room
apartment to oversee the industry in Akwa
Ibom and Cross River
states. The Federal
Government has shown no interest in any meaningful development or presence in the
area (other than the provision of policemen and other security forces to ensure
the oil flows uninterruptedly).
“The 33-kilometre
Eket-Ibeno Road leading to Nigeria’s largest crude oil terminal is now being
constructed by the state government. Mobil Producing
Nigeria which has used the deplorable road exclusively for 48 years, diverted
N8billion from its promised offer to the community as oil spill palliative, as
contribution to the road construction.
“The oil services
companies come from outside Akwa Ibom with their workers, whose taxes are paid
to their places of residence. The ancillary benefits and the multiplier effects
of the locating and operating from the oil producing area is therefore lost.”
As Essien thundered, there
were intermittent spontaneous resounding applauses. Stressing that the interventionist
visit by Osinbajo should redress the 48-year of
neglect by the oil communities, he presented their demands:
“That the oil companies operating in Akwa Ibom
State should move their
headquarters to the oil producing area of
the state. Pressure has been on this demand since 1979, but the oil company continued to fake excuses to stay away. Today,
all those impediments ranging from lack of airport, communication
services, road network, housing accommodation, etc, have been conquered.
“The over N30billion
spent to construct the Oil
Terminal Road should be refunded by the federal government to the state, for application to
the development of the oil
producing communities. Some
companies, indigenous to Akwa Ibom State should benefit in the
allocation of oil blocks in the
next round of bidding.
“The coastal railway line
project from Calabar to Lagos should have a diversion through Ikot Abasi, Eket to Oron to make it clearly a coastal rail. Although,
the bill for the conversion of the
Maritime Academy in Oron to a Maritime University has passed through second reading, we
expect the Acting President
to make a pronouncement on it here.”
Essien painted a pity picture of
section four of the West-Road
which its contractors allegedly changed the original design: “The section from
Onna through Eket to Oron (known as section IV) was awarded to Gitto Construction Company.
“In 2010, the construction
company, after collecting N2.3
billion for payment of
compensation for affected
property in Eket township, made subtle moves to the community to change the scope of the road from dual carriage to single carriage. They offered to use
the compensation money to do a
bye-pass through Eket town , to avoid pulling down houses. The community refused and insisted on a dual carriage as designed. Somehow, they
were able to convince government officials on a single carriage and a bye-pass.
“Today, section four
of the East West Road, stretching through Akwa Ibom
State is the worst road ever constructed by the Federal Government. It is
sloppy, undulating, already overgrown
with weeds and grossly incomparable with other
sections of the road.
“Your Excellency, we are bringing this issue for your
attention because on page 47 of
the Ministerial Technical Audit Committee
report states that the East-West
Road has been completed. But
the bye-pass has not been done and there is
no provision for it in 2017 budget; work on the
rejected single carriage through Eket is not on-going; page 70 of the Ministerial
Technical Audit Committee also reports that, ‘the contractor changed the scope of work from dual-carriage, to single one and no approval/authority is found in the
file.
“It may interest you to learn that between
1969 and 1998, Akwa Ibom oil bearing communities were in the forefront of
agitation (not militancy) for their right in oil production. We have tried to
restrain our youths from militancy. It has not been easy and we can no longer
guarantee that they will continue to listen to us if the federal government
continues to ignore us.
“Your Excellency, Akwa
Ibom State is the largest oil producing state in the federation. It is the most
peaceful oil producing state and has often had to make up for the shortfall in
production from other states. This tour therefore should have started from
Akwa Ibom.
“However , we expect and
believe that before you depart you will make a resounding pronouncement in
appreciation of the many years of peace and support Akwa Ibom State has given
the Federal Government in oil production. That will go a long way to appease
the people of the state.”
Osinbajo who congratulated Akwa Ibom people for being smart by not
indulging in wanton destruction of oil infrastructure in the name of militancy
and agitation, said that development could be still achieved even in peace.
He, however, lamented that the blessing of oil has almost become a curse or a burden in Nigeria as the wealth accrued
from oil has been consistently been mismanaged while the oil producing
communities only hear about the oil wealth without benefitting from it.
He promised that most of
the concerns expressed such as the relocation of the headquarters of the major
oil companies to their operational base in the state, the complaints about
being short changed in the amnesty programme and allocation of oil wells would
be addressed.
Culled: The Sun
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