The oil bearing community of Umuedeokwara Odagwa in Etche local government area of Rivers state has raised objection to what it described as diversion of the State’s key oil wells to its neighboring Abia state. The community blamed the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, for erroneously moving some oil wells in Umuedeokwara to Owoza community in Abia state thereby causing Rivers State government a daily loss of N10 billion in revenue over the years. Umuedeokwara community leader Chief Goodness Nwogu, BoT member of the Host Community Development Trust Fund, HCDTF said that it was wrong for NPDC to deny the community of its 15 oil wells which has affected “our PIA funds and development”, said”We have 15 oil wells including well 60 which has been in operation since 1961. But in their record, NPDC said we have only eight and out of this eight, only four are functioning. That is not correct. They allocated some of our wells to Owoza community in Abia state thereby denying us our legitimate resources.
“By this diversion, Rivers State is losing at least, N10billion on daily basis going by about 4,000 bpd oil production”, Nwogu alleged. The community leader decried absolute lack of basic amenities in the area, blaming the oil company which took over the management of the oil facilities in the community from Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, about two years ago. He rejected a scenario where everything concerning the community is rooted through Abia state, fearing that this may spark up a communal clash between Umuedeokwara and Owoza communities in Rivers and Abia states respectively. The community however placed a demand of N50 billion on another oil company, HEIRS, whose alleged oil spill since last December has destroyed the mangrove and the aquaculture of the area leaving farmers and fishing folks jobless. Ordu James, a member of the community development board, CDB, said the spill was due to equipment failure from the company and has left “a larger part of the vegetation destroyed. Yes, JIV visited the sight of the spill but HEIRS secretly went there and dug over 16 pits to divert the spilled crude.
“The damage is huge and we are demanding N50b in compensation, remediation of the land and restoration of our flora and fauna. These companies are not taking our interest serious. We have no hospitals, no employment for the youths, no electricity. Why are we an oil producing area? The community regretted that even the last December Xmas palliatives allotted to the people of the area was rooted through Owoza in Abia state, saying that there had been a silent crisis between the two neighboring communities due to the lopsided activities of NPDC in favor of Abia state. Chief Nworgu however called on the Rivers State government to rise up and fight for the reversal of the trend by NPDC to regain the resources it is losing to its neighboring state.
“We have 15 functional oil wells, 2 manifolds, 1 booster plant, 1 flow station and 1 jetty. But NPDC is telling us that some of these facilities belong to Abia state thereby denying us of our revenues. We must fight to reclaim what belongs to us. Rivers state government must rise up to this threat. We give NPDC two weeks to reverse all the diverted oil wells otherwise we will shut down the flow station and the two manifolds”, he threatened. Efforts to reach the management of NPDC could not yield any success as several phone calls where not pickup up or returned.
Rivers community battles NPDC over diversion of oil wells to neighboring state, demands N50bn from Heirs
