Abuja, Feb 3, 2009.
Minister of the newly created Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Obong Ufot Ekaette, has charged oil and gas companies operating in the Niger Delta to review their strategies and work towards achieving sustainable development in the region.
The Minister who was speaking during an interactive forum with Executives of oil companies in Nigeria at the weekend in Lagos noted that only sincere development and genuine cooperation by all stakeholders could provide the way out of the crises in the region.
Ekaette, was in the meeting with his minister of state, Godsday Orubebe, promised the ministry's intervention to "end the crises in the region," which he said, "has cost Nigeria and its people a lot in terms of human and capital resources."
"There is a growing discontent in the region arising from the gap between what the oil companies are giving to the oil communities in the Niger Delta and what they really expect. What the host communities are getting from you falls far below their expectations, given the magnitude of the problems generated by oil production in their respective communities," the Minister told the meeting.
He identified the complaints of the oil bearing communities against the oil companies to include their alienation from the business oil industry operations; lack of deliberate policy to develop the communities and improve the living conditions of the people; discrimination in provision of social facilities in the communities; farming out to non-indigenes of jobs that could effectively be handled by the people, thereby contributing to unemployment and suffering in the region; embarking on minor projects rather than capital projects like roads, bridges and training to enable them fit into the oil business and guarantee long term benefits.
Besides, he pointed out that while some oil companies have signed Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) with some oil communities, they have not been faithful in implementing such agreements, adding that many of such MoUs are signed by oil companies as a means of pacifying the communities and not necessarily to bring about the needed succour to the people.
"Despite the growing level of unemployment in the Niger Delta, oil firms have not done much to provide direct employment or auxiliary jobs for the youths as a means of arresting restiveness in the oil region. Oil companies have remained indifferent to the environmental degradation of the people's farmlands, sources of drinking water and means of livelihood, thereby making them victims rather than beneficiaries of oil production," he said.
Urging them to reflect on these issues and think of new ways of delivering service to the people of the oil communities, Ekaette said oil companies should now begin to provide basic infrastructure that can guarantee long term benefits for the majority of the people of the region.
"Since inaccessibility to the oil bearing communities of the Niger Delta appears as a recurring decimal, we wish to advise that you consider the construction of roads to link up the oil communities as part of your community relations practice and Sustainable Development programme. It is also our firm belief that if oil firms employ people from their host communities to do most of the jobs, which are sometimes given out to non-indigenes, the level of restiveness in those areas would be drastically reduced.
"Oil firms should begin to embark on special training programmes to enable indigenes of their host communities to fit into some aspects of oil production in order to give them a sense of belonging. Continued marginalisation of the people of oil communities can only heighten tension and give room for criminals to make the Niger Delta unstable for oil production."
The Minister who was speaking during an interactive forum with Executives of oil companies in Nigeria at the weekend in Lagos noted that only sincere development and genuine cooperation by all stakeholders could provide the way out of the crises in the region.
Ekaette, was in the meeting with his minister of state, Godsday Orubebe, promised the ministry's intervention to "end the crises in the region," which he said, "has cost Nigeria and its people a lot in terms of human and capital resources."
"There is a growing discontent in the region arising from the gap between what the oil companies are giving to the oil communities in the Niger Delta and what they really expect. What the host communities are getting from you falls far below their expectations, given the magnitude of the problems generated by oil production in their respective communities," the Minister told the meeting.
He identified the complaints of the oil bearing communities against the oil companies to include their alienation from the business oil industry operations; lack of deliberate policy to develop the communities and improve the living conditions of the people; discrimination in provision of social facilities in the communities; farming out to non-indigenes of jobs that could effectively be handled by the people, thereby contributing to unemployment and suffering in the region; embarking on minor projects rather than capital projects like roads, bridges and training to enable them fit into the oil business and guarantee long term benefits.
Besides, he pointed out that while some oil companies have signed Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) with some oil communities, they have not been faithful in implementing such agreements, adding that many of such MoUs are signed by oil companies as a means of pacifying the communities and not necessarily to bring about the needed succour to the people.
"Despite the growing level of unemployment in the Niger Delta, oil firms have not done much to provide direct employment or auxiliary jobs for the youths as a means of arresting restiveness in the oil region. Oil companies have remained indifferent to the environmental degradation of the people's farmlands, sources of drinking water and means of livelihood, thereby making them victims rather than beneficiaries of oil production," he said.
Urging them to reflect on these issues and think of new ways of delivering service to the people of the oil communities, Ekaette said oil companies should now begin to provide basic infrastructure that can guarantee long term benefits for the majority of the people of the region.
"Since inaccessibility to the oil bearing communities of the Niger Delta appears as a recurring decimal, we wish to advise that you consider the construction of roads to link up the oil communities as part of your community relations practice and Sustainable Development programme. It is also our firm belief that if oil firms employ people from their host communities to do most of the jobs, which are sometimes given out to non-indigenes, the level of restiveness in those areas would be drastically reduced.
"Oil firms should begin to embark on special training programmes to enable indigenes of their host communities to fit into some aspects of oil production in order to give them a sense of belonging. Continued marginalisation of the people of oil communities can only heighten tension and give room for criminals to make the Niger Delta unstable for oil production."