Curfew is for boats not for the people – Police
Are host communities of oil companies and corporations doomed to live inabject poverty and squalid environment? The question arose following a recent visit to Takwa Bay, a host community of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and several oil and multinational companies in Lagos State.
The residents, like their counterparts in the Niger Delta area of the country, live in a shanty environment and have their waters polluted by leakages from oil pipelines owned by the NNPC and other companies in the area. This, it was learnt, has made it impossible for the people to have potable water. They travel on water, which is the only means of transportation in the area to other parts of the state, to buy pure water and bottled water for their consumption.
The situation is worse for the fishermen, who have had their trade hampered by the pollution of the water. They alleged that they have not been making good catches as they used to do in the past because the fishes have fled the river. He said that the ones they catch always have the smell of fuel oozing from them even after cooking them.
Apart from the absence or mal-functioning of basic infrastructure like hospitals, their woes have been compounded by the curfew allegedly imposed on the community after MEND attacked a gigantic oil pipeline in the area on July 12, 2009. The curfew remains in place even four years after.
Ben Boco, the chairman of the community, bemoaned the plight of the residents. He said the community has been living in bondage that seems to have no solution in sight after the attack by MEND.
He said: “We have been living in total bondage after one of the biggest pipelines was attacked by MEND. There has been a curfew in the area since then but most people in the state are not aware of this. It is not only in Adamawa and other two northern states that the Federal Government imposed curfew. We have been having it here for the past four years. We have not had freedom of movement all these years apart from being deprived of basic infrastructure.
“ Our population strength now is about 12, 000 but it used to be twice the number before now. The NNPC has the largest depot not only in Nigeria but the whole of Africa here in Takwa Bay. They are even doing new constructions right now, with other big oil companies coming into the community.
“They have no form of corporate social responsibility in the society. It is a company like Julius Berger that gave us a senior secondary school building not quite long ago. Before then, the present local government chairman, Hon. Arogundade, built a junior secondary school for us. All these happened recently.”
He also decried the absence of standard hospitals in the community. He said: “We really don’t have hospitals. We have a mini clinic that is being supervised by the local government. The clinic has not been functioning for the past two years. Everybody in the community finds individual solutions to their health challenges. It can, however, be challenging in times of emergencies because of the curfew in the community. We are restricted from going out from 7pm till 6 am. Before now, it was from 6pm to 6am. The little adjustment was done recently. We have cried out to all the security agencies but they have been rebuffing us. They have been denying knowledge of it. So many divisional police officers that have been posted here have always said if it is a Federal Government directive, there should have been document that should have been sent to them to that effect for them to enforce.”
Another resident, who identified himself as Biodun Samson, claimed that many members of the community have lost their lives in times of emergencies because it takes a long process to get a permit from the security agents to go outside the community after 7pm. “We have lost many members of the community because of the restriction of movement in the community. When there are emergencies, it is always difficult to get permit from the security agents to go outside the community for urgent medical attention. When we eventually get the permit, a good number of the critically ill, are confirmed dead on arrival at hospitals. Most pregnant women make use of traditional birth attendants when they want to give birth. Those who have the means do go outside the community for their delivery. Is that the right medical practice in this age?” he asked rhetorically, adding: “We were not the ones who attacked the pipeline. Why should we be the ones suffering for the crime committed by another people? Before now, the security agents could walk into your compound and begin to harass you. They have stopped that in recent times. We are not saying that there should not be security men in the area but the idea of imposing curfew on the community should be revisited.”
The curfew, according to Boco, has caused many of the residents, especially those who go to work very early, their jobs. The curfew has depleted the population of the community because it is affecting the resumption time of many people who work outside the community. Many residents have lost their jobs in the process because they could not meet up with time. The curfew makes it impossible for those who resume duties by 6am, for example, meet up with their resumption time. Before now, the boats began to ferry people as early as 4: 30am or 5am so that they could beat traffic and get to their work places on time. But right now, the boats start work around 6am making it impossible for many residents to get to their work places on time. This has cost so many their jobs. Half of the population has left because they have no freedom of movement.”
He further alleged that the security agents have latched onto the situation to extort money from the residents: “If for any reason you are coming home after 7pm, you will have to bribe the security agents. You may end up paying ten times the amount you are supposed to pay. The security agents have seen our situation as an avenue of making money. Most often, they are the ones who ferry passengers late in the night. They collect N2, 000 for a fare that should not be more than N200,” he alleged.
Comrade Hope Onos, a member of the community executive committee, told our correspondent that the community has never had power supply from the outset. He said they have been relying on generators to have electricity in the community. Even though they have no petrol station in the area to buy petroleum products, he said it is illegal for them to go outside the community to buy petroleum products to power their generators. He alleged that security agents demand bribe from them before they are allowed to bring fuel into the community.
He said:“We have never had electricity in this place. We are not even connected to the national grid in the first place. We rely on generators to have light. The NNPC ought to give us a mini depot where we can get fuel to buy instead of going to distant places to buy fuel. When we go out to buy the fuel, we often face serious problems with the security agents. You have to ‘settle’ them before you can be allowed to bring the fuel into the community. They collect N100 for ten litres, N250 for 25 litres and N400 for 50 litres. If you refuse to pay, the security agents will first of all harass you and eventually seize the product.
“At times, the security agents bring petroleum products into the community and start selling to women who sell in the black market. We eventually buy at exorbitant prices. So most of us prefer to buy from the black market because it appears to be cheaper compared to the expenses you would have to make when you go outside to buy fuel. Besides, it is devoid of harassment from security agents.”
The absence of potable water, according to Engineer Andy Aneto,is another challenge confronting the community. He said that the wells in the community are polluted by oil substances that make the waters unfit for the people to drink.
He hinted:“The water is not safe for drinking, so we rely on buying bottled and pure water to drink. It is not even safe to bathe with the water because it has been polluted by oils from the leaking pipes and salt elements that are hash to the body. Some of the NNPC pipes are rusting. If you check through the NNPC pipelines, you will see different leakages here and there. You have the smells of oil and petroleum products all over the area. In fact, it is very messy. It is undermining the water that the people drink because it is not everybody who can afford bottled or pure water. “
Apart from the problem of having potable water, the fishermen also complained that leakages from the pipelines have been polluting the river, thus scaring fish away from the community. “Our business as fishermen is under serious threat because of the NNPC fuel that pollutes the water. The leakages run into the river most often and kill the fish. We don’t get to see good and sizable fish to kill anymore. The fish are leaving this area because of the pollution, which constitutes a huge threat to their lives. There is a village in this community where their fish will always have the taste of fuel even after they have been cooked. This is hazardous to the health of the people. It is unfortunate that we benefit nothing from them and worse still, we are losing our little source of livelihood to the unhealthy environmental practices,” a fisherman, who gave his name as Okon, stated in emotion-laden voice.
GoddayEkrakene, a unit chairman of the Maritime Workers Union in the embattled community, expressed concern about the presence of wrecked ships that litter the sea. He feared that hoodlums who, according to him, are using the wrecked ships as hideouts may use the opportunity to unleash worse terror than the MEND attack on the community.
He said: “Some criminals use those wrecked vessels as hideouts from where they go out to wreak havoc. This, on its own, poses serious security threat to the state and the nation as a whole. We have oil coming out of those vessels causing environmental pollution to the community. They also pose a threat to those who are coming across them. It is unfortunate that the Federal Government is doing nothing about all these. They are supposed to work in conjunction with us because we have the expertise to remove the wrecked ships from that area. When this is done, everybody will see the beauty and splendor of this aquatic sea shore.
“As maritime workers, we are supposed to have a stake in the projects that are being done here. There are some people who are sidelining us, yet we pay check off dues to the government. Every month, we pay N20, 000 to the government coffers. We also have the sea shores where so many grounded ships are and causing nuisance to the whole environment. They are causing environmental degradation and when you go down to where we call Ikate area, the wrecks that are blocking the sea have made water to be eating into the area. In less than two to three years now, we would begin to see water flowing from the sea to the lagoon.
“Part of the corporate social responsibilities of the big companies that we have here is to give us light, hospital, water and other social amenities. We want to beg the government to help us tackle all these challenges so that we can have a better living standard.”
David Bibowei Agi, the chairman of Ijaw community in the area, said: “The abandoned vessels have boys and girls of
