Two oil producing communities – Ukpiovwin and Oghior in the Udu Local Government Area of Delta State – have called for immediate humanitarian aid and payment of N1.71 billion compensation for recent oil spills and fire, which destroyed their means of livelihood and caused hardship among the residents.
The communities’ cry for help followed an oil spill and fire last September at a facility operated by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
They said the incidents affected their streams, farmlands and other means of livelihood.
In a joint statement, the president-generals of both communities, Lucky Ejenavwo of Ukpiovwin and Wisdom Ghaghara of Oghior, decried the worsening humanitarian situation in their communities.
They said their people were facing a serious food shortage.
They urged Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to prevail on the NPDC to provide materials, pay N855 million compensation to each community and award the contract for the clean-up of the streams and farmlands.
The communities, which berated the oil company for paying more attention to the safety of its assets than the lives of its host communities, accused it of neglecting Ukpiovwin-Ogior Road, the only road linking the two communities.
They said the roads remained impassable, even in the dry season.
The communities said there was no indigene on NPDC’s staff list.
They said: “NPDC should urgently send materials to the two communities because of the spillage, which occurred on September 19 at Ukpiovwin, Oghior and other communities along the flow line. The level of damage done is causing untold hardship to thousands of people. It also needs to clean up the affected streams and farmlands.
“We have also noticed that NPDC has no regards for human lives in the host communities. We noticed with dismay that despite the hunger that pervades the communities as a result of their negligence, NPDC went to Well 12 in Ukpiovwin community (in OML 34) to fix a Christmas tree without the consent of Ukpiovwin community.
“This is because the management and workers want the job done to corruptly enrich themselves through a high cost of contract, which they inflated. When the community called them, they said it was their facility, which they can access and fix without any interference from the host community (Ukpiovwin).”
