Angry Niger Delta youths have occupied the flow station and gas plant of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Kula and Belema Communities in Rivers.
The company which said it had spent millions of Naira on
human and infrastructure development in area decried the occupation of its
facilities.
Mr. Joe Obari, the spokesman of SPDC, said in a statement
issued in Port Harcourt on Saturday that the occupation of the flow station and
gas plant was illegal.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some
protesting youths on Friday shut the facility over claims of neglect, demanding
that the company’s licence be revoked and re-awarded to an indigenous oil firm.
Obari described the development as worrisome, saying that
the company and its partners had spent millions on human and infrastructure
programmes in the communities.
“SPDC’s commitment to the welfare of host communities in the
Niger Delta remains unshaken and, as such, decries the illegal occupation of
Belema flow station and gas plant.
“The company has implemented a Global Memorandum of Understanding
(GMoU) in the area that led to a wide variety of social investment projects
including university scholarships award in the communities,” he said.
Obari said that the Rivers Government, after mediating in a
disagreement in the community, created the Kula Project Implementation and
Monitoring Committee (PIMC) in 2012.
He explained that the PIMC served as an interim platform for
the delivery of social investment initiatives and programmes worth N262 million
in a Soku-San Berth project.
According to him, these projects are separate from the GMoU
projects initiated by communities using funds provided by the SPDCJV.
“However, a GMoU was eventually signed in 2014 for the Kula
Cluster, but has yet to be implemented due to continuing intra-community disagreement.
“As at 2015, there were a total of 11 court cases involving
different groups with SPDC as a co-defendant in all of them.
“Sadly, these suits and disputes have rendered it impossible
to implement more development projects planned for the affected communities.
“SPDC has continued to implement its social investment
programmes in the communities despite divesting its equity in OML 24 in Kula
and Belema communities,” he said.
Obari said that the company had already spent N352 million
on schools, sanitation, electricity, walkways and health outreach programmes in
the communities.
He said that more than N600 million had been set aside to
drive SPDC development initiatives in Kula, Belema, Offoinama and Boro
Communities in Akuku Toru Local Government Area.
He said that the company had informed the authorities of the
illegal occupation and was working toward a resolution and resumption of safe
operations in the area. (NAN)
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