PUNCH

The Nkpolu Oroworukwo community in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State on Tuesday joined calls for International Oil Companies to relocate their headquarters to the Niger Delta region.

The community, who embarked on a protest against its alleged marginalisation and neglect by the Nigeria Agip Oil Company, said the demand for IOCs to relocate their headquarters to their areas of operations was non-negotiable as it would engender cordial relationship between the oil firms and host communities.

Speaking under the aegis of Nkpolu Oroworukwo Stakeholders’ Development Forum, the community said the IOCs operating in the Niger Delta were shortchanging the region by citing their corporate headquarters in non-oil producing areas.

A leader in the region and the Chairman of the forum, Mr. Livingstone Wechie, who led the protest at the gate of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company in Port Harcourt, said, “Our demand is that all International Oil Companies, including Nigerian Agip Oil Company, should relocate their corporate and administrative headquarters to the Niger Delta.

Wechie said, “It is either they accede to this demand or they should entirely leave our Niger Delta. Let’s look for other oil partners to work with through the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

The chairman of the forum lamented that NAOC had failed to impact on the community, adding that the firm failed to provide basic amenities like roads, hospitals,  scholarships,  employment, schools and pipe borne water for Nkpolu Oroworukwo community.

According to him, “NAOC has refused to fully implement any of the skewed and dry memoranda of understanding or upgrade or renew same in any manner that will genuinely expand and make lasting resourceful impact on the people of Nkpolu Oroworukwo in line with its Corporate Social Responsibilities.”