ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
The Chairman of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers’ Council, King Bubaraye Dakolo, Agada IV, has advocated greater participation of host communities in oil and gas value chain as a panacea for peace in the state.
Dakolo, who is the monarch of Ekpetiama Kingdom, said that until host communities benefit and have a say in the management of oil and gas resources in their domains, the Niger Delta region won’t know peace.
He said it was morally wrong for the Federal Government to give out oil blocs to people who do not suffer the adverse effects of exploration and exploitation without the consent of the indigenes who bear the brunt of crude oil production.
The monarch spoke at the lighting of the torch of Oil and Gas Stakeholders Festival (OGSFEST 2022), at the conference hall of the TRC Secretariat in Yenagoa, the state capital.
He noted with regrets that the community where oil was first discovered in commercial quantity, and the entire Niger Delta had nothing to show for it six decades after the exploration and production of crude oil.
Dakolo stated: “This strong message is to the Nigerian state: you cannot steal what is ours and expect to sleep. It is not because we don’t want you to sleep, it is because of your attitude. So, if you want to sleep, if the Nigerian state wants to make it easy for law enforcement agents, then they should give to us what is ours.
“Let us manage what is ours, let us be a major voice in determining how to use what is ours and then everyone will go to sleep.
“You cannot take our kingdoms and give to other people in the name of oil blocs without our consent, knowledge, without our involvement and you want to sleep well, you can’t sleep well, it’s natural.
“We deserve to see 60 years of oil in Ogbia Kingdom, in Bayelsa State and in the Niger Delta, we are tired of having our oil monies as refineries in Equatorial Guinea, as streets and hotels in Europe or stashed away in the Swiss banks, and not available for our use.”
In her address, the Convener of OGSFEST 2020, Ms Onome Wilkinson, said the ceremony was designed as the flag off of the ‘OGSFEST Uyo 2022’ to be held in Akwa Ibom State capital in August.
She said OGSFEST, through a funfair approach, was aimed at promoting peace, unity and a symbiotic relationship among host communities and the Nigerian government towards achieving unbridled economic development of oil-producing areas and the entire country.
Wilkinson said: “We will encapsulate under festive mood, a realistic view of the narrative of host communities, the sincere efforts of the government and the tangible socio-corporate interventions of both NOC’s and IOC’s towards the development of the oil-rich Niger Delta region over the years.
“The festival amongst others will showcase essay competitions, epic dramas, colorfully packaged in a series of command performances by select state cultural troupes, side by side with roundtable discussions on quite a number of plenaries bordering on environment, oil spillage, Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and more.”
