Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
A rights activist and prominent leader in Niger Delta, Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor has cautioned the federal government against igniting war in the oil-rich region, and called for the immediate revocation of the pipelines surveillance contract awarded to former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo.
The activist who also called for the full implementation of the Niger Delta Development Commission’s (NDDC) Master Plan and wrest it from the grip of a few selfish individuals, warned that rather than better their lives, the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) clearly undermines the interest of host communities and create problems in the region.
Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, she faulted the federal government’s recent award of a monthly N4 billion pipelines surveillance contract to Ekpemupolo, expressing total support for Asari Dokubo who had similarly voiced his opposition to the deal.
The activist said she decided to raise the alarm on the looming anarchy and crisis that threaten to envelop the Niger Delta, and urged the federal government to act fast to stem the impending disaster occasioned by the recent beating of war drums in the region.
The pipelines surveillance contract award, she noted, was already inflating passions in the region and should be revoked.
Lori-Ogbebor stressed that if allowed to fester, the insecurity in the northern part of the country would be a child’s play to what is currently brewing in the Niger Delta.
Noting that the region remains home to the resources that accounts for the nation’s mainstay, she said: “The insecurity we should worry about is not the one in the North, but the insecurity in the Niger Delta is the one they should worry about.
“What we have today will be a child’s play if the insecurity in the region fully manifests itself. There is anarchy in the land.”
She lamented that it was disturbing seeing people brazenly displaying deadly weapons and threatening to resort to violence.
According to her, it was a matter for concern for a country to descend to the level where non-state actors openly display weapons of the highest calibre across the country while the federal government allegedly watches and abets such acts.
Expressing dismay over the way the federal government had handled issues in the Niger Delta over the years, she regretted that each time problems occurred in the region, the government would look for a few prominent people and push money into their hands and walk away, believing that such problems would fizzle out.
She stated that handing over the contract for the pipelines surveillance in the region to Tompolo as an individual was tantamount to the abdication of responsibility, wondering why Tompolo alone should be vested with such a huge task in various communities across the Niger Delta states.
On the NDDC, Lori-Ogbebor said the laudable objectives of the interventionist agency had been compromised by a few individuals who hijacked it over the years, and continued to milk the agency through their cronies.
She therefore, demanded the full restoration and implementation of the original Master Plan, as well as the release of the forensic audit report.
The activist regretted that the recently passed Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) seeks to undermine the interest of the host communities by a provision that says that such communities would not be entitled to whatever accrues to them should there be a breach of any pipeline within their domain.
She wondered why host communities should be made to carry such a liability when the power of securing lives and property is vested in the government through its security agencies.
