Simeon Nwakaudu
WHEN on June 22, 2019 Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike took the courageous step to re-open the Oil Mining Licence (OML) 25, an interested party engaged commercial mischief makers to heap insults on the Rivers State governor.
On September 17, 2019, I watched on AIT News Hour the culmination of the entire episode. It boiled down to the resolution of the meeting that Governor Wike held with all the stakeholders of OML 25 at the Government House Port Harcourt on June 22, 2019. Apart from the fact that Timipre Silva superintended over this particular meeting, every other detail remains as Governor Wike resolved.
But quite importantly, the Abuja meeting aimed at placating the interested party excluded the Stakeholder Communities. They were visibly absent. It was strictly a business discussion between Shell and Belema Oil. A discussion of who gets what.
On June 22, 2019, Governor Wike involved all the stakeholder communities, sampled their opinion and drew out the working document that has succeeded. This was a selfless service to Rivers people and the state. It was also a defining economic decision that has benefited everyone: Shell, Belema Oil, the host communities, Rivers State and Nigeria. Otherwise, that facility would have remained shut with the interested party lying every minute about the planned revocation of Shell operational licence of OML 25.
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Governor Wike created a negotiating table. He would have shied away, but he stood his ground to defend the rights of all concerned within the law. That is a mark of true leadership. He took the bullets and ensured a solution was reached.
Following the resolution of the matter, Shell is still the owner of the operating licence as the meeting convened by Governor Wike brought to the fore on June 22, 2019. The Abuja meeting did not change this fact. It only provided a soft landing and exit for those holding the nation’s economy hostage.
The process initiated by the Governor Wike was managed by the Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Dr Tammy Danagogo.
The truth always wins. It may suffer knocks, but it surely wins. The victory of truth is always to the benefit of the vast majority. In Governor Wike, Rivers people have a courageous leader who stakes everything to empower his people.
- Nwakaudu is Governor Nyesom Wike’s Special Assistant on Electronic Media
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