The people of Otuasega community in the Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State are protesting alleged neglect by the Shell Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC).
Already, the aggrieved community protesters have shut down the Kolo Creek manifold belonging to the SPDC, accusing the oil company of insensitivity to their plight.
They are demanding electricity supply and employment chances for the host communities of the oil company’s facility, including Otuasega, Yiba-Ama (Oruma), Imiringi and Elebele.
The chairman of Otuasega Community Development Community (CDC), Abah Raniyar, who led other officials of the community to shut the facility, said they would not back down until their demands were met.
Raniyar said the SPDC had allowed their demands to linger with series of demonstrations over the past months.
According to him, the community had also written several letters and had an agreement with the oil company that it would test-run the host communities’ gas turbine towards providing electricity on December 14, but no positive result.
He said the Bayelsa State government was also aware of the processes and the fact that the SPDC had not kept to its side of the pact.
The CDC chief said, “Shell has been operating in Otuasega community for more than 50 years now without giving us electricity. We have not had any single person employed in Shell.
“We had an agreement with Shell, we waited and we didn’t get any message from them. So, as a community we decided to come back to the manifold and state our grievances. The government has also not told us anything.
“We are here to protest and this time, it’s not going to be easy. We intend spending our Christmas here. We are not going to leave this place until our demands are met.”
Also speaking, the community’s assistant secretary, Austin-Sarah Ebredeni, said the SPDC’s refusal to address their suffering was aggravating the situation and they would not vacate the facility until there is positive result.
She said, “They (SPDC) should not come and give us excuses anymore. We will mobilise our people. We just want light and they have to employ our people; even a cleaner staff we don’t have.”
As of the time of filing this report, the Media Relations Manager, SPDC, Bamidele Odugbesan, had yet to respond to a text message sent to his phone by our correspondent on the community protest.
SOURCE: independent.ng