Leaders of civil society groups have held a rally in Lagos calling for a stop to the pattern of giving pipeline contracts to people associated with violence.
The groups expressed full support for the reforms being carried out by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, asking Nigerians to be patient to reap the dividends.
The groups, under the Civil Society Coalition for Mandate Protection, CSC-MAP, which held a rally at Ojota in Lagos on Wednesday cautioned that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, Ltd., might be unconsciously empowering armed groups through pipeline contracts in the Niger Delta.
The groups said pipeline protection should be given to professional and that pipelines in Itsekiri and Yoruba territories should not be given to former bandits who once led armed insurrection against the state.
Over 1000 representatives of indigenous peoples from oil producing communities in Lagos, Ondo and Delta states attended the rally.
The groups said it might be compelled to hold rallies in Abuja to draw the attention of the Presidency, the National Assembly and the international community.
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Some of the banners read ‘Stop Pipeline Contracts to Bandits’; ‘No more pipeline contracts for former militants’; ‘Don’t Give Pipelines Protection in Itsekiriland to Our Enemy’; ‘Probe illegal Arms in Niger-Delta’; ‘Okuoma Killings: Who gave The Guns.’
The group said “the CSC-MAP has received complaints from many oil producing communities who feel sidelined by the federal government and corporation institutions like oil producing companies and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC in benefit sharing and job opportunities for the young in the companies involved in oil pipeline protection.”
The coalition said indigenous peoples vehemently opposed the idea of giving the protection of pipelines protection in Itsekiri and Ilaje lands to Mr Government Ekemuokpolo, said to have led armed battles against the Itsekiri and Ilaje in the past.
“We want President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to succeed. We do not want anything that can lead to another round of crisis in the oil producing communities in the Niger-Delta. The NNPC must never give protection of pipelines in Itsekiri and Ilaje territories to Tompolo who was the ring leader in the ethnic conflict between Itsekiri and Ijaw and between Ijaw and Ilaje. Any attempt to do this is an invitation to chaos,” the groups said.
The coalition said oil producing communities were concerned that while oil pipleline contracts were means of providing jobs for local communities, the majority of people in oil producing companies were sidelined by the fact that some of the companies involved in the pipelines protection were not indigenous to the communities and territories that were expected to be protected.
“The indigenous communities like Itsekiri and Ilaje are being sidelined. There is a looming dispute which can snowball into a major problem. It is inconceivable that oil pipeline protection in Itsekiri and Ilaje have been handed over to interests that fought these communities with arms and ammunition in the past.”
The group said the danger was that leaders of armed groups in the name of pipeline protection were being fortified and funded to have dominion on Itsekiri and Ilaje territories which they said was totally unacceptable.
“Itsekiri and Ilaje communities in Ondo, Delta, Lagos states call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to review the oil pipeline contracts to ensure that local and indigenous people that host oil and oil pipelines are direct beneficiaries,” the CSC-MAP said.
Leaders who spoke at the rally were the CSC-MAP Deputy Coordinator, Micheal Ajayi; Assistant Secretary, Ajayi Lateef and other officials, including Abubakar Salami and Uzor Jideofor.
The group said millions of youths remained unemployed in Iteskiri communities even though they were from oil producing communities.
The indigenous communities in Ondo, Itsekiri Delta, Ogun and Lagos states, they said, called on President Tinubu to review the whole indigenous companies operating in the states to ensure that the real beneficiaries were people indigenous to the communities.
CSC-MAP said the federal government should ensure pipeline protection did not lead to proliferation of arms in the oil producing communities.
