Leadership (Abuja)
Austine Unoarumi
15 May 2008
It appears the militants operating in the Niger Delta are not in a hurry to halt their perceived "criminal activities", which in the last few weeks have hugely affected the economy of the nation negatively.
This indication emerged when in the early hours of yesterday the militants hijacked a vessel belonging to American oil giant, Chevron.
The spokesman of Joint Military Task Force (JTF) Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, told newsmen in Port Harcourt that the vessel was hijacked while sailing from Onne Port in Rivers to Escravos in Delta State. He said that among the 11 people on board the vessel were a Portuguese, a Ukrainian and nine Nigerians.
LEADERSHIP gathered last night that the militants are demanding N30 million ransom while no group has claimed responsibility for the hijack.
The JTF spokesman said the vessel might have been carrying supplies and other essential materials for the Escravos platform. He added that although the exact location of the vessel's seizure was not known, it was suspected to have been taken at Krakrama area, near Fouche Island in Rivers, about 30 nautical miles from Port Harcourt.
Meanwhile, the acting governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Werinipre Seibarugu, yesterday urged oil companies operating in the state to show more commitment to their social responsibilities.
He made the call in Yenagoa at a meeting with representatives of Shell Petroleum Development Company, (SPDC) and Obunagha community and other stakeholders.
The SPDC and the community had been at loggerheads over alleged non-commitment of the SPDC to its social responsibilities to the host community. The community had prevented SPDC from working on Gbarain/Ubie Gas Gathering Plant located in the community.
He advised SPDC to incorporate in its Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU), standard projects meant for their host communities rather than providing social amenities that are non-functional.
The gesture, he said, would go a long way towards eliminating areas of conflict between the SPDC and host communities because certain projects contained in the GMOU were unacceptable.
Seibarugu said that although conflict was inevitable as it was part and parcel of human existence, he advised the people of Obunagha to always respect the rule of law in the resolution of conflicts.
He urged the people to always respect government's intervention in all issues because the problem was not only that of the community, but a collective one.
The governor thanked the community leaders, especially the Commissioner for Youths, Conflict Resolution and Employment Generation and secretary of the Ijaw Youth Council for their efforts at resolving the issues.
The Ibenanaowei of Gbarain Kingdom, King Gabriel Funpere Akah, lauded the efforts of the governor for the peace initiative, saying he was happy that peace had returned to the community.
Akah, who said that the SPDC had since resumed operations in the community, appealed to the SPDC to always honour memoranda of understanding and carry the community along in its operations to avoid miss-understanding between them.
The Ibenanaowei apologised on behalf of his people for whatever problems the disruption to work would have caused and promised to work harmoniously with the oil company.
The SPDC Project Manager, Mr. Okey Elechi, thanked the governor for his efforts at resolving the matter, adding that work had since resumed at the site.
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