By Moses Patience Chat
The indigenes of Ugbo Community of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, under the protection of the Amalgamation of Ilaje Ugbo Coastal Communities Association (AMAICOMMA), have confronted Chevron Nigeria Limited over their exclusion in the award of the Shallow Water Drilling Contract also known as the Project Panther.
AMAICOMMA in a joint statement signed by its Executive Body, which includes its Chairman and Secretary, Barrister Wole Ogungbeje and Kehinde Omoyele respectively, accused Chevron of breaching the initial arrangement and practice of including Ilaje indigenes in the supply of equipment, saying that the oil company has compromised on the practice and issued a 72-hour ultimatum to Chevron to reverse the award of the contract.
The Association challenged Chevron to come out and disclose the total numbers and identities of the Call Of Contractors shortlisted for the Drilling Operations, warning Chevron not to truncate the peaceful atmosphere being enjoyed in the Ugbo Community by correcting and reversing the alleged injustice.
According to the Association, “Chevron Nigeria Ltd is about to ignite another crisis that is capable of having adverse impact on oil production activities in the Ilaje Offshore territory of Ondo State as the Communities of Ugbo Land remains the mandate area of all Chevron offshore operations in Ondo State.
“It will interest everyone to know that all the equipment for the Panther drilling Project has been hijacked by Chevron’s top managerial staff in favour of different contractors where they have an interest as no single one was given to any Ilaje contractors although some of our local contractors participated in the equipment supply bidding process for the Panther Drilling Project.
“Outside the bidding, the usual practice is that the local contractors from Ilaje are supposed to be nominated for the supply of equipment. All this process has been compromised by Chevron for their personal interest.
“We, therefore, challenge Chevron to disclose the total numbers and identities of the call off contractors shortlisted for this drilling operations.
“AMAICOMMA Communities of Ugbo strongly demands that their due benefits in terms of equipment supply, call out contracts and other entitlements be communicated and given to us before mobilization in not more than 72 hours from the date of this press release.
“The above information is for Mele Kolo Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), NNPC Upstream Investment Services (NIUS), Ondo State Government and The Director of the State Security Services (SSS) in Ondo State for their possible intervention.”