FROM IKHILI EBALU, BENIN CITY
Following 63 years of gas flaring and lack of basic infrastructure such as motorable roads, hospitals and schools, Gelegele Community in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State has issued a 14-day ultimatum to the federal and Edo State governments and oil companies operating in the community.
Protesting their neglect, the community warned that if government fails to address these basic needs, they would have no option but to shut down oil companies operating in their community.
The protesters, who included women and youths displayed placards with inscriptions such as ‘No road to Gelegele,’ ‘Our secondary school is dilapidated,’ ‘Tantita come to our aid,’ ‘There is no NDDC project in Gelegele,’ and ‘Say no to gas flaring in Gelegele,’ marched from Gelegele Town Hall to their ancestral home, where prayers were offered before proceeding to the operational site of Dubri Oil Company Limited, where gas flaring has been ongoing since 1963.
Speaking at the protest in the oil-rich community, Chairman of Gelegele Executive Council, Mr Omaghomi Olu-Derimon, said over 300 communities have been cut off from the rest of the state due to lack of access roads.
He also lamented the absence of functioning hospitals, stating that the only secondary school in the community is dilapidated, lacking chairs and teachers.
He questioned why their community has been excluded from Niger Delta Development Commission’s, NDDC, projects, why their ecosystem has been devastated by oil exploration since 1963 and why they have no representatives in the Edo State House of Assembly or the Edo State Executive Council?
“We are here today not because we are happy or celebrating, but because we are mourning. We want Nigerians and the world to know how we feel about oppression, injustice and the subjugation of our rights by the federal, state and local governments—successive administrations alike.
“The Gelegele story is a pathetic one. As you can see, we are standing behind a gas flare. I want the United Nations, Nigeria, Edo State and the local governments to know that gas flaring has been ongoing for 63 years, since oil was discovered in Gelegele Community in 1963. We have been roasted by this gas flare. Neither the federal nor the state government pay any attention to the pains of Gelegele people.”
According to him, there is no NDDC project in our community despite being an oil-producing area and hosting the first indigenous oil company in Nigeria, Dubri Oil Limited.
