Because of their oil
By
Anytime I read about clashes between oil companies and their host communities in the news, I find it difficult to really come to terms with what the problem is.
Day in day out, one is faced with reports of how some harmless villagers who in the name of fighting for their rights went on protest to a particular oil field owned and managed by a particular oil company only for them to be dealt with ruthlessly by agents and security operatives of the oil company.
From Ilaje in Ondo state to Ogoni land in Rivers State, the story is the same.
Between the host communities and the oil companies involved in this saga of fighting for one’s deprived rights, one will be at a loss as to who is really at fault because a critical look at the case brings to fore the fact that both of them may be right depending on the angle from which one is looking at the case.
I do not want to believe it is a sin for one to be richly blessed with natural resources of enormous quantity, especially if one is hindered directly or indirectly from enjoying the fall-outs of such a blessing.
Apart from environmental degradation, most oil companies operating in these oil communities have nothing to show for their existence in such communities. If what we read in the papers are true with regards to the poor state of facilities in these oil communities inspite of the fact that they are the geese laying the golden eggs, then, it is high time all these oil companies realised the fact that the inhabitants of these communities deserve a better deal, no more, no less.
It is a known fact that with the exploration activities of these oil companies in these communities, the social and economic lives of the inhabitants have been greatly affected negatively.
For instance, the economic activity of these people which is fishing because of the riverine nature of the area has been seriously hampered as no productive fishing exercise can be carried out by the villagers.
Apart from the above, there is no way any meaningful agricultural practices like farming can be carried out due to the environmental degradation to which the environment has been subjected.
The above being the case, one will expect that the inhabitants of these communities should not be losers all through as something positive should have been done to cushion the effects of what they are being negatively subjected to economically, health wise and socially. But alas, the opposite is the case.
I hold very frankly that the dwellers of these devastated communities deserve a better deal. What they are passing through is not of their own making. The fact that what should be a thing of joy for them is now causing them untold agony is the greatest irony of the century.
It is worrisome that, in spite of what the inhabitants of these communities are losing, the oil companies enjoying the benefits of their blessing have not deemed it fit to make life better for them.
These oil companies as a matter of moral obligation, should do something urgently to bring smiles to the faces of their landlords and this they can do through provision of basic amenities like pipe borne water, electricity, health centres, educational institutions and the likes.
Apart from offering scholarships to students from these areas, the oil companies should also go a step further by providing employment opportunities for qualified indigenes of these areas as this will go a long way in reducing the rate of unemployment which has made the youths of these areas readily available for violence at any slightest opportunity. Our elders say, “An idle hand is the devil’s workshop”.
It it is true as claimed by the authorities of these oil companies that the majority of the inhabitants of these areas are not employable due to their low educational qualifications. I think the elders and community leaders of these areas should see it as part of their social responsibilities that their children are encouraged to avail themselves of the opportunity of being educated to the highest possible level as this is the only way by which they can be guaranteed better positions in these oil companies.
Finally, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), a body saddled with the task of seeing to the development of communities in these areas should as a matter of urgency wake up to its duties of doing this effectively and one way by which this can be done is to make sure that these oil communities are not short-changed by the oil companies operating on their lands.
Nov 2002