NLNG TRAIN 7: No Employment, No Operations ‐ Ekpeye Oil & Gas Chairman . . . Solicits Palliatives For ‘Kpo Fire’ Refiners
3 min read
EOG National Chairman
by Oyagiri Chime‐emele
The Ekpeye Ethnic Nation of Ahoada East and West Local Government Areas have vowed not to allow the commencement of the Ubie Deep Wells project that will feed the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Train 7 project except its employment quota is explicitly defined.
The statement was made by Ekpeye Oil and Gas Pipelines Host Families Association (EOG), through its National Chairman, Comrade Chidi Dogini during a media briefing at the association’s national secretariat, Ahoada.
The group vowed that it would not allow their God given resources to be used to enslave and work against them like in the past.
Dogini frowned at the practice of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) recognising only where the refining facilities are situated at the expense of the degraded land where oil and gas is extracted and the people’s land left hollow and empty.
He called on the managements of TotalElf and NLNG to do the needful to avoid disruption of its operations, reiterating that EOG stands to harmonise any grey area arising from either deliberate negligence by the IOCS or undue demands by the people.
In his words; “NLNG can not start Train 7 project without involving Ekpeye ethnic nation in meaningful discussions, this is because the gas that will feed Train 7 is coming from Ekpeye land.
“Ekpeye people will not allow any company to come and do business in its land without due consultation. Local content law must be fully applied. A man who owns property must benefit from his property.
“Go to Bonny Island where is a transitory point and see what is happening, but here in Ekpeye land, it has been pains, tears and suffering.
“Sectional meetings will not save the IOCs this time around. Ekpeye sons and daughters have braced up to fight for their rights. The mistakes of Ogbele community with Niger Delta Petroleum Resources (NDPR), Akala Olu with Agip (NAOC), Idu community with Shell, Ubeta community with ElfTotal can not be repeated. The narrative must change”.
On the over three years oil spill allegedly caused by facility failure at Idu and Akala Olu communities, the EOG national chairman decried the lack of concerted efforts by operators such as Shell and Agip to mop up and remediate the affected land mass, alleging that the IOCs may be planning to annihilate the people of Ekpeye ethnic nation.
The environmentalist alleged that the volume of oil expended on the land is more than that recorded in Ogoni land, which has caused untold hardship and suffering to his people, stressing that the effect of the pollution may cause an outbreak of cancer related sicknesses.
Dogini, who appreciated the Rivers State Government’s stand to end operations of illegal artisanal refineries because of the environmental and human hazards it poses, called on the government to fashion palliatives to cushion the effects of the sudden stoppage of their business.
He noted that their activities though harmful to the society, had also helped in a drop in crime and criminality, adding that providing licences for them to legally access and refine crude would have been a better option.
