NEDU MARK, Yenagoa
Following the inability of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to provide electricity supply to Koroama community, hundreds of aggrieved youths have shut down the company’s Gbarain-Ubie Integrated Gas Plant operations at the gas field.
The aggrieved community is currently embarking on a protest to demand power supply from the power plant component of the facility.
The youths, as well as women, elderly had blocked access to the facility and suspended ongoing work at the gas plant located in the community.
Paramount Ruler of Koroama community who addressed the youths Chief Sabu Martins urged them to remain resolute until their aims were achieved.
He said that the oil and gas endowed community suffered the adverse impact of gas flares and deserved supply of electricity generated with gas from the area to ameliorate their sufferings.
The monarch noted that that the protest had been ongoing for the past three weeks and resulted to forcing contractors to vacate the community until the oil firm gives a commitment to provide electricity to them.
“Today I and my people, we are protesting to SPDC and to the federal government as well Koroama is a host community and has the largest proven gas and oil reserve in the entire Shell operations in this area.
“We have agreed that we could die here if light, the only demand we have is not given to us, then Shell will never operate on our land, we have given them time to remove their things, we want government to intervene,” the Monarch said.
Also speaking, Miss Ankio Briggs, a Community Rights Activist noted that the demands of the people who host the gas plant was modest.
“What I have I heard them say today is not different from what has been said for a very long time, what they are demanding in line with what Adaka Boro demand. This story about host communities who I call the owners of the resources, , it is about self determination, it is about corporate social responsibility the demand is just and right.
“I call on the Government of Bayelsa, Federal Government and Shell to look at the demand although it is not the duty of Shell to provide electricity to Nigerians but it is a social and moral obligation to their hosts,” Briggs said.
Spokesman for Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Joseph Obari in a reaction said that the oil firm had difficulties meeting the demands of electricity to its gas plant host communities due to limited capacity.
“The Bayelsa State Government is leading discussions with Koroama community to end the blockade of SPDC project sites in the area.
“The community commenced the blockade about three weeks ago to press their demand for free and uninterrupted power supply to the community from SPDC’s gas plant in the area.
“The Gbaran-Ubie Integrated Oil and Gas Plant supplies back-up power to two neighbouring communities under an agreement entered into with host communities in 2006, during the project conception stage.
Obari said: “Due to limitation imposed by the power capacity of the plant, it has been unable to accommodate other communities’ requests to tie into the power system.
“SPDC has progressively fulfilled agreed sustainable community development projects in the community under the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU). For example, in 2014 alone, projects worth over N100m were completed in the Gbarain/Ekpetiama Cluster which covers Koroama.”
