OML 42: Delta oil Community Mobilizes Youths to Shut Down NDDC Over Alleged Neglect 

By Ezekiel Kagbala 

Ijaw youths drawn from all over the oil rich Odidi community in OML 42, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, have vowed to lead a massive protest to shut down the Niger Delta Development Commission, "if the NDDC currently led by Dr. Samuel Ogbuku continues the narrative of neglect".

This was contained in a statement signed by the community Chairman, Preye Okrikpa, copies of which were made available to journalists in Warri, during the weekend.

The statement disclosed that "Odidi youths, under the aegis of Odidi Federated Communities, are fully prepared to storm the NDDC headquarters with protest and to remain there till the age long developmental neglect is addressed".

The community leader noted with concern that "several calls have been made to the Commission under the past administration, and it is disheartening that all the previous administrations did not give any attention even when several letters were written to the Commission". 

"Ordinarily we won't be talking about protest if the Commission could even site a simple project such as a health care facility, water project or school in Odidi, an oil producing community where the Nigeria government makes trillions of Naira to finance its annual budget", the statement said.

It then called on the Federal Government and other relevant agencies and prospecting oil-producing companies in the area to, as a matter of urgency, "address the issue of health centres, schools, and drinkable water in the community".

Preye Okrikpa stated that the Odidi community, OML 42, is a major host to the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) now NNPCL, Neconde, among other companies but lamented that "despite their huge contributions to the economic survival of Nigeria, the community still wallows in abject poverty".

The statement partly reads, "It would not be out of place for one to say that the Federal Government and other relevant agencies have failed us because life has become very difficult as our communities are the major oil and gas bearing communities which host several OML operations in the Niger Delta region.

"We are calling on the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, to consider the Odidi community in the Commission's plans for 2024 projects, if not, storming the Port  Harcourt office and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja will be our last resort, and we are not praying for it to get to such extent".