Atala: Host Community Cautions ‘Propagandists’ against Spreading Falsehood about New Owners

Atala: Host Community Cautions ‘Propagandists’ against Spreading Falsehood about New Owners

By Emmanuel Addeh

A group, the Bayelsa Youth Watchdog (BYW), has warned certain persons it described as propagandists against carrying false information that will negatively impact the continuing work on the Atala oilfield.

Specifically, the host community urged a chief executive officer of one of the interested companies, who has been propagating falsehood and name-dropping to confuse stakeholders, to steer clear or get exposed.

A statement by the spokesman of the group, Mr Preye Jack, said that it was unfortunate to have in their midst those kind of characters, including a man who petitioned the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) for the revocation of Atala Marginal Field OML 46, through Century Exploration and Production Limited.

“Yet, today as we give this press release, same man is at the forefront of brainwashing locals and misleading Governor Douye Diri to defy the revocation directive of the Atala fields by the federal government,” the group argued.

The community said the oil operator was boldly spreading the misinformation that the governor, his supposed “blood cousin”, was  not only going to defy the government’s revocation instruction but that there are plans to slam a whooping $103 million debt on the state as the company’s claims for the revocation of the Atala field.

The group wondered why a company that earlier called for the revocation of the same oil facility is now pained that the licence has been cancelled and awarded to new capable owners.

“What we as concerned youths have noticed here is a deliberate plot to deceive the government of Bayelsa State, tarnish the reputation of the governor and tie the unborn children of Bayelsa to debt enslavement,” it stated.

According to the youths, for the first time, the Atala field is poised to begin full oil prospecting and  employment of Bayelsa’s local communities, noting that all those against Bayelsa people benefiting from the asset will not succeed.

The Minister of State, Petroleum, Mr Timipre Sylva, had told journalists recently that 11 marginal fields were revoked for non-performance and that the holders of the fields held them for 17 years without producing any oil.

He noted that Nigeria was losing a lot of money before it decided to take away the assets and hand them over to new owners, adding that it remains a closed issue.

“Because if we are producing these fields, the country too will be getting royalties and other payments, and taxes from oil production. But when you hold an asset and you just keep it and you are not producing that asset, the country is losing money ultimately.

“So after 17 years, the president in his wisdom decided to revoke those assets and revoking it means it is no longer your asset. So, if it is no longer your asset. What is your business whether it has been given to somebody else?” he queried.

Sylva added that the Bayelsa State Government, which formerly owned the oilfield, had not refuted the allegation of non-performance, explaining that licence owners do not just hold them for the sake of it.

“Bayelsa State Government, are they denying that they ran the asset sub-optimally? They are not, and I am sure they are not arguing with that, they are not arguing with the revocation,” he said.

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