Dear Mr. Ogiriki, Your appeal has come not only as a surprise but as an eye opener and a timely one for all. It is painful that we of the NDOKWA extraction, our apex body and political reps and leaders of different shades have remained calm, passive, illiterate and uninterested on the treatment the Oil Companies have meted and continued to dish out to the NDOKWA people. The companies have operated in most cases on lopsided MOUs, divide and rule mechanics, and most embarrassingly partnering with the State government in the business of short changing the people and taking advantage of the poverty levels inherent from a largely illiterate people. I hear there is this formation code named HOMCOM, that is an assembly of local champions for purposes of liaising with oil companies on behalf of host communities. When I was the President of UFU I took interest in the crafting of the MOUs between Utagba OGBE and Energia/Midwestern but before you could say jack Robison they had been signed with the knowledge, guidance and consent of, of course, two of our sons who undoubtedly are knowledgable about and with what obtains in the industry. Of course, so far so good for Utagba OGBE, particularly Umusadege, even though there were some skirmishes and disagreements between leaders, the lead and the King as time went on. Not without the Oil Companies playing the usual divide and rule tactics. Lets now move to Emu Ebendo. It was again another case of divide and rule, which brought the five Emu brothers in disagreement, Ebendo against the King, almost declaring sovereignty,and before you knew it another lopsided, defective and short changing MOU was signed. Emu Ebendo to a large and reasonable extent has benefitted from this defective MOU but indeed things would and could have been much better if reason had prevailed between brothers and their King and the Oil company had not taken advantage of the family feud generated by oil discovery. Now, we travel to Umutu, where we have Platform petroleum and the situation is a little more encouraging. It is pleasing to note and know that our brothers are mainly in charge and at the very top levels. But, a lot is yet and still expected from this major pace setter among the oil companies in ndokwaland. One would expect that with the likes of Chief Avuru operating in ndokwaland, coupled with his vast experience, the NDOKWA nation and people will not suffer the fate that we have bedevilling us at this stage of oil development and the oil industries operation in ndokwaland. The NNU should consult with such an embodiment of knowledge and experience to guide NDOKWA aright. NNU needs to imbibe the concept of committees for this and that but not the Transformation Agenda way. With our apex Organization and indeed bodies such as the UFU and NDOKWA Women, they do have their portions cut out for them and it is up to the leadership of these organisations to live up to their responsibilities. They should be able to confront and surmount those areas where NNU seem to be lacking, collaborate and cooperate with the apex team where feasible for the greater cohesion towards ameliorating the NDOKWA social, economic, political and oil related quagmire. Then of course, there is the issue of getting cooperation from the communities and those know it all NDOKWA people/individuals. I remember vividly when as UFU President then the UFU was to embark on a particular action when NNU was not functional, and one lady NDOKWA elite felt we in UFU was overstepping or encroaching into areas that should have been the responsibility of NNU. She either forgot or did not know that NNU was comatose or just felt like being mischievous and protectionist. Indeed, we carried on and if I remember correctly that brought an end to that era of non performing political representation of ndokwaland in Abuja or/and Asaba . There was a kite that one commentator and commentary flew last week on almost the same oil industry maladministration in ndokwaland where an assembly of NDOKWAbred lawyers were eye marked and drawn up with some of us mentioned as homeboys for collaboration. Nothing has come up as a follow up to that commentary, even when I asked who was in charge. Thats NDOKWA for us all and when you take the initiative to kick start it becomes a quest for power, notice or I too know, that ITK thing. Everybodys business, is nobodys business. NDOKWA, lets wake up to our responsibilities, get a lot more probing, aggressive, demanding and result oriented. Ogbuefi VOT
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 14:16:14 +0000
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