Youths from Itsekiri, Ijaw, Urhobo, Isoko and Ndokwa communities of Delta State have handed the National Assembly a 30-day ultimatum to redress what they called fraudulent allocation of oil mining leases (OML) or risk oil firms in the areas being shut down.
The youths, under the umbrella of Delta State Oil Producing Communities (DSOPC), on Wednesday stormed the National Assembly complex, causing the main entrance gate to be shut against motorists for several hours.
Addressing some members of the House of Representatives on their grievances, the leader of the group, Emami Aurimi, explained that all his people are requesting for is a fair bidding practice that is open and competitive.
Six OMLs (4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 41 and 42) had been ordered by the Federal Government to “be thrown open for bidding by any interested company”, but Aurimi alleged that indigenes’ rights were “deliberately” excluded.
“We heaved a sigh of relief when we learnt that the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited was divesting its interest in the various OMLs and the government had ordered that the oil mining leases be thrown open for bidding by any interested company. But this relief was cut short, when the said mining leases were surreptitiously granted without regards to the doctrine of rights of pre-emption and/or first refusal being granted to members of our communities, who had the financial and technical capability to acquire the mining leases,” Aurimi complained.
Aurimi particularly accused the minister of petroleum resources, Dieziani Allison-Madueke, of sharp practices that yielded N58.9 trillion.
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“Two days before President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in 2001, officials of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), of which Mrs. Dieziani Allison-Madueke, the petroleum minister as chairman, secretly transferred production rights in four large oil blocs, OMLs 26, 30, 34 and 42, to Mr. Jide Omokore’s Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited, a company that neither tendered nor bided for the blocs. By this deal, 60 percent of NPDC’s 55 percent stake of these assets is about five billion barrels, which when calculated with the 2013 crude oil benchmark comes to $380 billion or N58.9 trillion,” he said, adding that the disclosed figure is exclusive of the four trillion cubic feet (4tcf) of gas assets in the blocs, which are valued at $15.72 trillion.
He hinted that they had issued a two-week ultimatum, but the Senate begged them to make it 30 days.
“The Senate pleaded with us for 30 days from today (Thursday). After 30 days, we will not come to Abuja. We will not vandalise any oil pipeline, but we will go and sit at those oil blocs, and make sure that nothing works from there,” he threatened.
Addressing the youths, the chief whip of the House, Ishaku Bawa, assured that justice would be done to their request.
Bawa, who excused the absence of the speaker of the House, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, from meeting with the youths, acknowledged that they have a right to protest any unfair treatment.
“Our concern is for the people. We are only the drivers of the cars, and you are the owners. I assure you that you will be invited for the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) public hearing, where you will make your views known to Nigerians. I want to assure you that we will look at your complaints with a human face. We will take the matter very serious,” Bawa promised.
