Bayelsa monarch accuses FG of ignoring host communities over oil blocs

By Adeleye Kunle

HRM King Bubaraye Dakolo, Agada IV, Chairman of the Bayelsa State Council of Traditional Rulers and Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Kingdom, has chastised the Federal Government for allocating oil blocs in the Niger Delta without consulting host communities.

King Dakolo, who described the Federal Government’s action as morally wrong, said it was unfortunate that the people who suffer the negative effects of oil exploration and exploitation and bear the brunt of the consequences were never considered or consulted before oil blocs were allocated.

He stated that the Federal Government will not know peace until host communities benefit from and have a say in the management of oil and gas resources in their domain.

At the lighting of the torch of the Oil and Gas Stakeholders Festiva,l OGSFEST 2022, in Yenagoa, the state capital, the monarch expressed regret that the community where oil was first discovered in commercial quantities, as well as the entire Niger Delta, have nothing to show for six decades of crude oil exploration and exploitation.

“And this is a strong message to the Nigerian state: you cannot steal what is ours and expect to sleep, not because we don’t want you to sleep, but because of your attitude,” he says. So, if you want to sleep, if the Nigerian state wants to make it easier for law enforcement agents, they should give us what we have, let us manage what we have, let us have a say in how we use what we have, and then everyone will sleep.

“You cannot take our kingdoms and give them to other people in the name of oil blocs without our consent, knowledge, or involvement, and then expect to sleep well.”

“After 60 years of oil in Ogbia Kingdom, Bayelsa State, and the Niger Delta, we deserved to see some meaningful development in our land.” We are tired of our oil money being used to build refineries in Equatorial Guinea, streets and hotels in Europe, or being stacked away in Swiss banks and not being available for our use.”

Ms Onome Wilkinson, Convener of OGSFEST 2020, stated in her address that the Oil and Gas Stakeholders Festival Torch ceremony was designed as the flag-off of the “OGSFEST UYO 2022,” which will be held in Akwa Ibom State in August this year.

She stated that OGSFEST, through a funfair approach, aimed to promote peace, unity, and a symbiotic relationship between host communities and the Nigerian government in order to achieve unrestricted economic development of oil producing areas and the entire country.

“We will encapsulate under festive mood, a realistic view of the narrative of host communities, the government’s sincere efforts, and the tangible socio-corporate interventions of both NOCs and IOCs towards the development of the oil-rich Niger Delta over the years,” Wilkinson said.

“Among other things, the festival will feature essay competitions, epic dramas, colorfully packaged in a series of command performances by selected state cultural troupes, alongside roundtable discussions on quite a number of plenaries bordering on environment, oil spillage, PIA, and more.”

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