Three oil producing host communities in Belema, Offion-Ama and Ngeje in Kula kingdom of Asari-toru Local Government Area of Rivers State have called on the state and federal governments to prevail on Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, to fulfill all the agreement reached in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it entered with them.
The OML25 oil field was shut down in 2017 by the indigenes of the three communities over alleged neglect, maltreatment, impoverishment, enslavement, non-implementation of development projects and failure to comply with the MoU by Shell.
The flow station was occupied by women and youths of the communities for two years, which led to the loss of 35,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The dispute was resolved on September 17, 2019, by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resource, Timipre Sylva, and Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, signaling a new beginning to the peaceful resolution of the crisis.
Part of the four key resolutions reached was that SPDC should pay the sum of N260m and N75m respectively to a designated account.
The company was also expected to, within two weeks of the peace meeting, pay the remaining part of N1.014bn and also obtain approval from NAPIMS to pay the money that accrued between 2009 and 2013.
Belema Oil, an indigenous company located in the area with 7.7 percent assets in the facility as part of the MoU, would provide operation maintenance and employ members of the community.
But the host communities alleged that Shell is yet to fulfill part of the bargain.
The Spokesman of the community, Alabo Fiala Okoye-Davies, said Shell was yet to fulfill its part of the agreement and was frustrating the process of the re-opening of the facilities by sponsoring counter renegade groups in the community to disrupt the peace.
“We are aware that the trio of NNPC, SPDC and BPL have had several meetings in a bid to resolve the issues that resulted in the face-off between SPDC and its host communities. It is interesting to note that while our position regarding our confidence in the federal government to resolve the issues remains sacrosanct, we are minded to warn against various tactics and antics to cause confusion and crisis again in our peaceful Kula kingdom.
“We wish to make this clarion call on the federal government and security agencies to prevail on SPDC to desist from whatever alliance with some renegades of Kula kingdom and ensure a conclusion of the on-going discussion with federal government and Belema Oil on behalf of communities for the re-entry of OML25,” he said.
He called on all the stakeholders involved in the peaceful resolution of the dispute to step in and ensure the implementation of all resolutions reached.
When contacted, the Spokesman of SPDC, Bamidele Odugbesan, said the company has no immediate response on the matter.
“Sorry, we have no immediate response to the enquiry,” Odugbesan told our reporter in a text massage.
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