Gov Diri Accuses Oil Firms, Regulatory Bodies Of Treating Host Communities Unfairly

Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has condemned what he described as unfair treatment of Niger Delta host communities by oil firms and Nigerian regulatory bodies.

The governor made the accusation on Tuesday when the Chief of Defense Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Yenagoa.

A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, quoted the governor as saying that one of the things responsible for security challenges in host communities is the injustice and unfair treatment meted to them by oil companies aided by regulatory authorities.

Governor Diri cited last November month-long oil and gas spillage in Nembe Local Government Area of the state which resulted from an AITEO Exploration and Production Limited facility.

He said the incident resulted in litigation due to the manner the company and the regulatory bodies treated the impacted communities.

Gov Diri said the disposition of his government towards the affected host communities prevented another conflict between them, AITEO and security agencies.

In his words: “A case in point was the AITEO oil spill. That facility was said to be unproductive, was not decommissioned and it spewed oil for over a month, which was the first of its kind in the history of oil exploration in the country.

“At the end of the day, a potential source of conflict was during the joint inspection visit, which has caused a rift between the state government, AITEO and, to an extent, the supervisors from the oil and gas sector.

“However, because of our disposition, we have been able to calm down our communities. Now it is the state government with the local government on one side, and of course AITEO and the supervising oil and gas bodies on the other side, which I feel should not be if we do what is right, and if there is equity and fairness.

“For the fact that the environment has been affected as well as the source of livelihood of the people, it is very human for the oil companies to have immediately responded by way of compensation. Unfortunately, what we have seen is that there is some collaboration and collusion with AITEO and the regulatory agencies and we were forced to take legal action against AITEO.”

Earlier, Gen. Lucky Irabor said he, along with his team, was in Bayelsa because they recognize the crucial role of the state government in accommodating and strengthening the operations of the country’s armed forces.