ANSHA EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER ILLEGAL EXPLORATION OF OIL PRODUCTS IN OGWIKPELE COMMUNITY 05-03-24
By Sadiq Aminu The Anambra House of Assembly has expressed great concern over what it called illegal activities of a company exploring oil products in Ogwuikpele community, in Ogbaru Local Government Area of the state .
The Chairman House Committee on Petroleum and Natural resources, Mr Chidi Ibemeka, stated this shortly after the lawmakers went on an inspection of the activities going on in the oil producing community.
Africa 247 Correspondent Sadiq Aminu reports that one of the sharp practices by the company as observed by the legislators, include not being able to account for total quantity of crude they explore daily from the community.
Ogwuikpele is one of the oil producing communities in Anambra State.
However there have been accusations and denial about the true situation of things as regards to whether what is going on in the area is a full-fledged or test run operations.
This prompted the Anambra House of Assembly Committee on Petroleum to undertake the inspection of the area to ascertain the reality and the level of impact the oil exploration has on the community.
The team discovered that the company does not have metering system to account for the resources they are drilling, while gas products are being transported outside the state through underground pipes laid through River Niger to Delta state.
The Chairman of the Committee, Mr Ibemeka, said they also observed that the company was loading products in batches without any accounting system while employment opportunities are not offered to Anambra indigenes.
He expressed their disappointment over the company’s disregard for its financial obligations to the state government as well as its Corporate Social Responsibilities to the host community.
Mr Ibemeka promised that the house shall take decisive action in collaboration with relevant stakeholders including the executive arm of government to find sustainable solutions to mitigate the negative impacts of crude oil exploration in the area.
In an interview, the President General of Ogwuikpele, Mr Sunday Madupue, accused the company of not carrying them along in their activities even as he noted that the oil exploration was already impacting negatively on their farmlands without any succour coming their way.
In his response, the company’s Base Manager, Mr Kylian Mahtre, claimed that their activities are in line with the Federal government provisions and operational guidelines.
While confirming that the company had been transporting finished gas from Ogwuikpele community down to Delta state, he said he was not aware of the quantity of resources they explore daily from Anambra State as it was his office in Lagos that has such information.