Aggrieved Isoko-speaking Osekwenike, Abuetor and Osifo communities in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on Friday threatened to shut down the Samabiri/Buseni Cluster Location housing nine oil wells operated by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC).
They issued the threat at the weekend over an alleged refusal by the oil giant to keep to the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU) reached with its host communities.
It was gathered that the protesting communities in large numbers, barricaded the access road leading to the Agip-owned oil facility, and disrupted its activities to press home their demands.
The protesters comprising men, women and youths from the three communities were seen carrying placards with different inscriptions such as “Agip give us our Link road”, “Agip, obey the directive of the deputy governor on the surveillance matter”, “We are tired of staying in darkness in our communities”, “Agip, employ our youths.”
Other inscriptions read: “Agip, increase our GMOU projects from 2 to 4 in each community”, “Agip, award our Link Road project to the recommended contractors”, “Give us Diesel to power our generators,” among others.
A statement jointly signed by the three Presidents General of the communities, Mr. Lovely Agwor for Abuetor, Mr. Anthony Okorie for Osekwenike, and Mr. Benjamin Aghoghovia for Osifo, stated that they resorted to the protest after all efforts to reach Agip for dialogue had failed.
The community leaders also told newsmen that they had written several letters, seeking audience with the oil giant through the Manager, Stakeholders Management and Community Development Division, to address their demands but that Agip had continued to rebuff the communities’ efforts to have a roundtable discourse on the way forward.
They recalled that the communities had, in separate letters dated June 23, 2021 and October 14, 2021 and addressed to the General Manager, District, Nigeria Agip Oil Company through the Manager, Stakeholders Management and Community Development Division, forewarned of a shutdown of the oil facility if Agip refused to listen to them.
Some of the demands made by the communities to Agip include: “to assign the construction of our link road which shall connect the three communities in line with our MOU for 2001/2006 to the recommended contractor. No implementation, no production.
“To mobilise the contractor to site for the completion of our gas turbine project in line with our MOU 2001/2006.
“To assign the surveillance contract to a trusted indigenous contractor in Bayelsa state or to our recommended contractor and payment of two months salary arrears to our community. No implementation, no production.
“To respect our GMOU which comprises nine communities namely, Osekwenike, Abuetor, Osifo, Agbere, Odoni, Kaiama, Isoni Ossiama and Ogbunugbene.”
The aggrieved communities are also demanding for a monthly supply of 45,000 litres of Diesel to the communities “which Agip had stopped over six months ago for no just cause” thereby subjecting them to acute darkness while the multinational company and its staff are enjoying uninterrupted electricity at the cluster location which houses nine oil wells that produce thousands of barrels of crude oil daily.
They used the medium to call on President Muhammadu Buhari, the Governor of Bayelsa state, Senator Douye Diri, and the relevant authorities to prevail on Agip to do the needful, vowing not to vacate the oil site if their demands are not met.