Land Owners In Bauchi Oil Prospecting Area Worried Over Delayed Compensation
As president Muhammadu Buhari flagged off the Spud-in of Kolmani River-II Well Gongola Basin, Upper Benue Trough last Saturday, members of Barambu and other neighbouring communities in Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State are worried over delays in compensating them for their farmlands.
The communities affected by the oil prospecting expressed their reservations while speaking on the side of the flag-off ceremony on Saturday.
Some members of the community who spoke to journalists lamented that despite almost three years of vigorous oil prospecting activities in the area which directly affected their farming activities and their livelihoods, they are yet to be compensated.
They, therefore, called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to pay compensation for their land being used for the exploration in the area.
According to members of the community, their farmlands were taken and they were promised compensation but nothing was given to any of them and many of them no longer have farmlands to cultivate crops.
One of the affected farmers, Ladi Naboth lamented that they have been left without any means of livelihood since most of them rely on farming.
“We are in the village and not the city and they know our major occupation is farming, we cannot eat if we don’t farm. We plead with them to pity us and pay us the value of our farmlands which is being used for the oil exploration.
“We are happy that this has been found in our locality and we will benefit from it but before we start benefiting from it they should pay us so that we can have what to eat and survive,” she said.
She added that, apart from the land compensation, the communities also need social amenities like hospitals, schools and other things.
According to her, members of the community take their sick ones to Gombe, Alkaleri, Bauchi or Pindiga due to the lack of a health facility in the area.
“If we had a hospital or maternity, we won’t go through that. I recently put to bed but when I was in labour I had to be rushed to Pindiga on a motorcycle which is several kilometres away from here,” she said.
Another resident, Haruna Adamu, said that, one of the Oil wells was sited on their land but they have not been compensated.
He said that, their land is being used for the exploration but they have not receive any compensation either from the government, NNPC or any company operating in the area.
Adamu, who claimed to be a farmer and a herder, said their people were not even being employed for menial jobs by the companies prospecting for oil in their area.
“We don’t even have work to do there. They don’t look for us to do anything for them where they are working. How can people come from outside and benefit from the wealth that was found on our land but we don’t benefit from it?”
According to him, before the oil exploration started in earnest, in the last three years, they were actively engaged in the cultivation of maize, sorghum and millet but with the ongoing activities, they cannot cultivate their land.
Daily Trust had however learnt from a staff of one of the companies operating in the area that, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is responsible for the payment of compensation to the affected communities.
The staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “I am from the contractor’s side and I want to tell you that compensation is usually from the Frontier Exploration Services, a body from NNPC. What they do is they asked the contractor to work. They will later pay the compensations. I know they will be paid not long from now.”
In his reaction the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, said that since seismic investigations started the NNPC has been doing a lot of community relations activities.
“Specifically, the larger community area have problem of water supply and we have already drilled 27 water boreholes with handheld pumps. We have also intervened in the community by beginning to build some health centres so that they could have some medications. We have also intervened in repairing some of their educational institutions,” he said.
“Should we be successful, we really want to modernize the villages that we have seen around. We want to make them a modern oil community. The good part of it is that this community, unlike the Niger Delta has been very homely; they feed our crew without us even asking or begging. They bring beverages and their local foods for us for free. The community is very welcoming and we intend to appreciate this by doing more for them.”
SOURCE: dailytrust
