Emmanuel Aziken & Inalegwu Shaibu
30 October 2008
Youths from Mbo Local Government area of Akwa Ibom State have petitioned the Senate alleging unwholesome practices by oil producing companies in the area.
While alleging that the land area of the Local Government has shrunk ten times since the advent of the oil companies, the youths in their petition presented to the Senate yesterday also alleged half-heartedness on the part of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in its execution of projects in the area.
The petition was submitted to Senator James Manager, chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta and attached to them was a petition from the youths to Addax Petroleum Company, one of the operators in the area.
The petition was signed on behalf of the Mbo Youth Coalition by Comrade Sunday Inyang on behalf of the group.
"None of these companies has a liaison office in Mbo Local Government Area so as to know the problems and feelings of the people, they have also refused to employ the indigenes of these communities into managerial positions in their companies."
Most of them have over the years refused to put up a developmental structure like schools, health centres, boreholes, road network, electricity etc to assist the communities they are operating in," the youths alleged.
"The people no longer want to build block houses for the fear of being submerged into the sea by sea surge. Yet companies like Addax Development have just celebrated ten years of successful operation with 200 million barrels of oil and they are presently producing 116,000 barrels of oil per day without any human sympathy and feelings for the community going extinct."
"Of all the NDDC projects (since 2001 till date) awarded for Mbo communities, 50% of such projects are invisible, 30% are uncompleted (some at the foundation level) while only 20% have been completed."
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