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People of Idheze community in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, yesterday, embarked on a peaceful protest to call the attention of the Federal Government and Nigerians to the gross neglect by Nigeria Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC) in the past 12 years.
The community women barricaded the road leading to the oil wells being operated by NAOC, saying until their demands are met, they will not allow the company access.
Public Relation Officer of Idheze community, Power Okpure, said the community resolved to protest after a long period of tolerating the neglect and ill-treatment by NAOC.
He said for over 12 years, NAOC has refused to carry out any infrastructure development in the community and refused to give employment to the community people whereas the company continues to operate, taking out crude oil and gas.
“The operations of NAOC is guided by the provision that every four years, there ought to be a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with our community.
“The MoU that we signed in 2008 expired in 2011. NAOC refused to sign a new MoU since then. By our calculation, there ought to have been two separate MoUs between when that of 2008 expired and last year when the government introduced the Petroleum Industrial Act (PIA).
“We have appealed to NAOC through the Delta State Ministry of Oil and Gas and other agencies, but the company has refused to listen to us. Hence, we have decided to carry out the protest and we are saying until they compensate us for the years they did not sign MoU, we will not allow them to operate,” he said.
According to him, they have not seen a company that is so deficient in corporate social responsible but only good in fuelling crisis.
