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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
The Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) has attributed increasing agitations in oil-bearing areas to the failure of multinational oil companies to meet up with their Corporate Social Responsibility to host communities.
Managing Director of the interventionist agency, Bashorun Askia Ogieh, stated this while fielding questions from journalists during an interactive session shortly after a tour of some of the projects of the commission in its mandate areas.
Ogieh insisted that most oil companies were not living up to expectations, hence the agitations by host communities.
He said requests for projects by oil-bearing communities were legion, adding that the agitations for more projects would have been reduced if multinational oil companies were also playing their role to develop the host communities.
Ogieh justified the increasing agitations, saying that the level of deprivation and neglect of the oil-bearing communities was overwhelming.
“If you know the level of deprivation caused by exploration and exploitation from the past till now, honestly there is nothing they would agitate for that you can say is too much. They deserve all that we have done and even much more.
“As an interventionist agency, we intervene in critical areas to complement what the state is doing to make life more meaningful for them. So there is still a huge gap to be covered.
