We are clothed with abject poverty despite our endowments – Gbaramatu Kingdom

Residents of Kokodiagbene community in Gbaramatu Kingdom, South West Local Government Area in oil-rich Warri, Delta State are crossroads and swimming in troubled waters. In this exclusive interview with Isaac Olamikan, Environmental Rights Activist and Chairman of the community, Comrade Sheriff Mulade spoke extensively on woes that has befalling his community among others. Excerpts:

Considering the enabling environment for oil business in Kokodiagbene, where do you think your people have missed out?
Kokodiagbene community in Gbaramatu kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State is a critical stakeholder in the oil and gas industry.

It hosts giant multinational oil concerns, Chevron, Shell, Neconde and NPDC (Nigeria Petroleum Development Company). It’s also where the popular Jones Creek Flow station is located. Jones Creek has the single largest oil producing field that produces over 270,000 – 300,000 barrels at peak production period. It has over one hundred oil wells.

‘Ours is a story of neglect and deprivation by government and Chevron’
Inspite of our huge contribution to the nation’s economy and also creating an enabling and conducive environment for the smooth operation by the IOCs and government, there is no single government presence; there is no single social amenity.

The people are the most neglected, the most deprived and most avoided people inspite of their peaceful disposition. As a result of our peaceful nature we’ve won the Most Peaceful Community Award with a cash reward of N10 million by Chevron in 2002.

Besides that, Kokodiagbene has also won the same prize in the oil and gas industry and bagged several awards from servicing companies, but there is absolutely nothing to show for it. Abject poverty is the middle name of the people.

What are the amenities denied your people?

Part of the environmental destruction in Gbaramatu kingdom

We have no potable water to drink, no electricity; no school for our children. The environment is nothing to talk about. The ecosystem has been eroded; it has been destroyed and it has been bastardised as a result of the oil and gas exploitation and exploration activities.

The few projects awarded by government were politically awarded on paper, mobilised on paper and executed on paper. Whether it was commissioned on paper, we don’t know.

Where is place of Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs’ intervention?
At a point in time, we took our agitation for improved condition of living to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs where the then minister in charge of the ministry, Elder Godsday Orubebe listened as Chevron confessed in the presence of the security agents that they’re not doing much to impact on the lives of the people.

The minister immediately ordered a high powered delegation to embark on a fact finding mission to Kokodiagbene. On the basis of the findings of the delegation the minister ordered that the community should be sand filled and shore protection should be carried out to the tune of over N5billion. That was in February 2010.

The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs instructed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to carry out the project. It was initially awarded in 2002 and later re-awarded in 2012. That’s why I called it a political project. Nothing came out of it. They’re not ready to help the people of the Niger Delta.

You don’t talk of host community without mentioning Kokodiagbene. But the community does not command much recognition because of its peaceful disposition.

The peace loving people of Kokodiagbene have engaged the government on the way forward on several occasions. We’ve severally demanded for electricity supply to no avail.

The only generating set we use in the community was donated to us by Shell in 1998. At that same period Chevron promised to connect us to their flow station -the Otunana Flow Station just a kilometre away from the village.

The other host communities were also involved. It was like a MoU between Chevron and the communities. The host communities in Abiteye were connected.

Those in Escravos (the Gburudu communities) also benefited but Kokodiagbene was left out; we stayed calm because it was at the peak of the Niger Delta crisis. We felt that at the end of the crisis Chevron will do the needful but they have not.

How did you secure Chevron facilities and equipment during Niger Delta crisis?
It will interest you to know that despite all the turbulence that characterised the Niger Delta crisis, none of Chevron facilities in Kokodiagbene was affected.

We mobilised our youths to take care of the place. Chevron gave us N4.5 million in appreciation. We pleaded with them to supply us electricity but they were not forthcoming. Later they complemented the only primary school in the village with a 250kva generating set appealing to us to manage it.

We have had several discussions with Chevron to no avail but they instigate the military against us. We have been accompanied by military men to Kokodiagbene to see things for themselves and their advice to Chevron was that they should meet up with our demands.

Governor Okowa to the rescue
Chevron now ran to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to complain that the military is not in its support. The governor intervened through the Secretary to the State Government (SSG). Our position is clear – they must do the right thing or else we will relocate to their flow station because we want to enjoy light like them.

We kept to our advocacy and Governor Okowa invited us to the state Security Council meeting. At the meeting we presented our case to the governor. Chevron owned up to making a promise to supply us with electricity but said they could not meet up with their promise because of some prevailing circumstances and they appealed to the governor to assist them.

Now, we cannot be in darkness while our tenants are enjoying electricity supply all day long. For peace to reign, this cannot be allowed to continue. The governor pleaded with us to give him some time to look into the matter and recommend a good solution. He said that the government is working with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the gas turbine project.

We told Governor Okowa that the gas turbine is a long term project. We are talking of an immediate project. We are not connected to the national grid and you’re talking of gas turbine! We told him that it was unacceptable. We acknowledged his concern and intervention but let him know that we want a quicker response. The governor at the meeting approved the construction of a male and female hostel building for the community.

How did you established a community secondary school?
That’s another story! We have what we call the Egbama-Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation. It’s a community based organisation which Chevron funded. We gathered the little money that accrued to us for about four years and use it to embark on any project that is dear to our heart.

In 2008, I embarked on the construction of the community secondary school. Then I was the secretary of the community association and sought for approval and got it. When my tenure ended the project remained comatose. Infact, there was no sign that a school once existed in the place.

After another five years of endless waiting for support, I decided to complete it with facilities for boarding. I did it as a way of affirming that I don’t need to occupy position in government to impact on the lives of my people. Presently, 97 students are in the boarding while over 70 students are day pupils, making a total of more 170 students.

The students enjoy free education – no tuition fee, free accommodation, free feeding and free uniforms. Admission into the school is from all the surrounding communities spread across Delta, Bayelsa and even Edo States.

We don’t discriminate. When I sought for government approval and the then CIE (Chief Inspector of Education) of Warri South West Local Government came to inspect the project, she marveled at what she saw and passed information to the Ministry of Education in Asaba who also came and gave speedy approval to the school.

I am driven by passion to do it because of the need to improve on the lives of my people. When we met with Governor Okowa, he was impressed with our concern to bring development to our community, unlike some others who would always ask to be awarded contracts for themselves. He promised to come to our aid. This time, we hope that his statement is not political.

Infighting, false claims our bane in the Niger Delta
Kokodiagbene is one of the ruling houses in the Gbararmatu kingdom so it’s strategic. The whole of Gbaramatu is surrounded by oil. There is no kingdom in the Niger Delta that is more blessed than Gbaramatu in terms of bearing oil. We host over eleven flow stations.

Without Gbaramatu there is no Escravos. Escravos is just a storage terminal. Gbaramatu and Itsekiris host the Escravos terminal. The way the Ijaws in Gbaramatu suffer is the same way our brothers and neighbours, the Itsekiris, suffer.

Unfortunately, our enemies have continued to instigate us against each other so that we cannot come together and speak with one voice. With these discordant tunes, we are unable to unite and develop our communities.

Instead, we are fighting and castigating ourselves. Our enemies meanwhile exploit the situation to feed fat on our God given resources. This trend is unacceptable.

We, from Gbaramatu, have realised that we must unite with our neighbours to move ahead. While the Ijaws are fighting to ensure that development gets to our communities the Itsekiris are laying spurious claims to ownership of land even as they agree that they have their ancestral roots in Benin, forgetting that before they came, there were some people living here.

What is the way forward then?
We want our Governor Okowa to take our plight seriously. We want the oil companies to live up to their responsibilities because we want the path of peace and we want it now.