Communities threaten SPDC over alleged neglect

SOME communities in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, have threatened to shutdown operations of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in the area.The communities are Amatu, Bilabiri, Bisangbene and Letugbene.The communities, under the umbrella of 'AABBL United Communities Forum,' alleged that SPDC had failed to develop the communities where it carried out oil exploration since 2001.According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the Chairman of the forum, Francis Amamogiran, at a media briefing in Yenagoa,He said: 'Since the inception of Exploration Area (EA) drilling campaign to production, no deliberate policy, programme and no effort has been put in place by SPDC to impact on the human capital development of our people.'Amamogiran alleged that rather than develop the people, SPDC had continued to operate a 'divide and rule' policy.He said the company awarded a 21-day vessel support contract to 24 companies with the intention of setting the communities ablaze.'It is disheartening and sad that since the inception of the EA programme in 2001, no life changing contract has been given to any of our contractors who have met the stipulated conditions,' he said.The chairman said that the communities had watched with great pain how companies from different parts of the country, in collaboration with SPDC's senior members of staff handled juicy contracts and neglected the local people, saying that the people had decided to take their destiny in their hands and that 'enough was enough' to deprivation and neglect of thecommunities by the company.'The people of the EA host communities had remained peaceful even in the height of the Niger Delta crises,' Amamogiran saidHe urged SPDC to adopt and implement the Federal Government Local Community Content policy and appoint an indigene as manager to implement the policy to improve the living conditions of the people.He also urgedSPDC to organise an open forum to tell the world how many people from the communities it had employed directly or indirectly.'If our demands are not addressed within seven days, our once peaceful communities will turn out to be hostile as we will be forced to use violence to shut down the EA field operations,' he said.When contacted on phone, Spokesman for SPDC, Precious Okolobo, said the company would respond to the allegations at the appropriate time.'We will get back to you soonest, probably by tomorrow,' Okolobo said.
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