- Urge Fed Govt to rescue community from going into extinction
Hundreds of youths and women of Sangana community in Brass Local Government of Bayelsa State have protested against the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and seven oil companies operating in their area over alleged neglect, following coastal erosion ravaging them.
The peaceful protest, which began from the beginning of the community to the community’s river, locked down the coastal community for hours.
They said they were aggrieved that the relevant authorities failed to embark on a shore protection project to stop the erosion that had swallowed more than 50 per cent of old Sangana areas, claiming the incident had been officially reported to the Bayelsa State Government, NDDC and oil companies operating at Sangana Kingdom.
They lamented that despite their repeated protests and engagements with stakeholders, old Sangana and its communities are gradually going into extinction, as the area’s public utilities such as primary schools, rural electrification, farmlands among others have been lost to the sea waves.
They alleged that property and goods worth millions of naira had been lost through the ravaging erosion that had kept thousands of community folks homeless.
It was gathered that the quick intervention of some political leaders, chiefs and elders of Sangana Kingdom halted a breakdown of law and order that could have resulted in the shutdown of multi-million dollars crude oil production in the area.
It was also gathered that the protesters were provoked by the alleged deliberate neglect by the NDDC and the oil companies as the raging coastal erosion had allegedly swallowed up almost a kilometre of old Sangana, the ancestral base of Sangana people.
The protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as: ‘We are peaceful people and do not envisage breakdown of law and order’, ‘Save Sangana people from the ravaging sea encroachment’, ‘We produce the black gold of the nation and deserve better’ and ‘Save our land, ancestral heritage, properties and economic valuables from total destruction.’
They cried out that the old Sangana would go into extinction if nothing was done to protect the area from the ravaging sea scourge.
According to the protesters, the NDDC and the oil companies working in their area have allegedly neglected the community.
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The Chairman, Sangana Community Development Committee, Mr. Preboye Reuben, said the NDDC and its host oil companies had allegedly refused to perform their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at Sangana kingdom where it had been extracting oil for the past three decades.
Reuben said: “It is over 25 years now since the NNPC and its multinational oil companies started crude oil production, and yet, the Nigerian state has yet to show that it honours and recognises where they have continued to extract crude oil for over three decades. Schools in the area where we, our fathers and grandfathers attended are all under water.
“We are calling on the Managing Director of the NDDC, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, to save a sister community of Sangana in Bayelsa State from going into extinction. In 2009, the NDDC under the leadership of former Managing Director, Mr. Timi Alaibe, awarded shore protection in Sangana, but it was abandoned after 30 per cent completion in 2010.
“Now, we have another Bayelsa man at the helm in NDDC in the person of Dr Samuel Ogbuku. Some letters in this regard have been written to the new NDDC management but all to no avail. We are seriously in distress and we urge the relevant authorities to rescue us from this precarious condition we are in currently.”
He feared that with the current reality of coastal erosion in the area, Sangana Kingdom might be no more in the next 10 years.
He called on the Federal Government, NDDC and oil companies working in the area to as a matter of urgent public importance come to the aid of the community.
Also speaking, the traditional ruler of Moko-Ama, Sangana Kingdom, King Moses Theophilus, Kenibara VII of Sangana Clan, said they were tired of writing letters to official quarters of the government seeking intervention without any fruitful response.