By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Worried by the lacklustre attitude of the defendants in the suit asking the court to set aside the award of petroleum prospecting licenses issued in June 2022 to successful bidders, Ijaw Elders Forum (IEF) and other interest groups have warned the Federal Government not to thwart the effort being made toward a peaceful resolution of genuine grievances of oil communities against the continuous devastation of their environment through exploration activities.
The forum handed down the warning, yesterday, in its reaction to the absence of defence counsel to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Nigerian upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission which are the defendants in the suit restraining the Federal Government from issuing out marginal field licenses to prospecting bidders until the final determination of the case.
While reiterating its resolve to pursue the case to a logical conclusion, the group warned the Federal Government not to provoke the affected communities to the point of resorting to alternative means of saving their lives and the environment.
A statement signed by the Secretary of the Ijaw Elders Forum, Pastor Efiye Bribena, reads in part: “Ijaw Elders Forum (IEF) and other interest groups registered our concerns on the fundamental flaws in the marginal oil fields bidding process and the need to address the continuous devastation of the environment but we were rebuffed.
“We then filed this lawsuit and obtained the court order restraining the Minister of Petroleum and other relevant authorities from continuing with the bid round and issuing licenses pending the determination of the case. The restraining order was published to notify all concerned. Unfortunately, typical of the attitude of total disregard of the Niger Delta people and the courts by the Federal Government and operators in Nigeria‘s oil and gas industry, they have disobeyed this court order.
“We trust the court will do the right thing to ensure compliance with the rule of law. The Minister of Petroleum and all concerned operators are hereby advised to desist from continued disobedience to the court order so as not to provoke the affected communities into adopting alternative means of saving their lives and defending their environment.”