The Bayelsa State Government has intervened in the face-off between four communities in the Ogbia Local Government Area of the state and Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria over the perennial blackout in the area.
The aggrieved host communities are demanding, among others, the immediate operation of the 2.5 MVA generator installed by Morpol Engineering Services Limited, and the award of the contract for the Oruma high tension line.
The Otuasega, Elebele, Oruma and Imiringi communities, under the auspices of the Kolo Creek Cluster Development Board, had issued a 14-day ultimatum to the SPDC to fulfil its agreement with the board on restoring electricity to the area.
The ultimatum was jointly signed by the paramount rulers of the four communities.
They alleged that the SPDC had “deliberately refused to honour the agreements it had with the cluster communities on several occasions since 2013,” stressing that they had unanimously resolved to shut down all the oil installations and platforms in the Kolo Creek at the expiration of the ultimatum.
Worried by the incident, the state government convened a meeting at the Government House, Yenagoa, on Monday, with community leaders, executives of the cluster board and representatives of the Otuasega, Elebele, Oruma and Imiringi communities.
At the meeting, the Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ehwrudjakpo, appealed to the communities to exercise a little more patience over the oil firm’s delay in restoring power to the area.
Ehwrudjakpo, in a statement on Tuesday, urged them to allow the government to make last-ditch efforts to resolve the issue.
He said the government was not happy with the attitude of the SPDC in repeatedly reneging on its promises to restore electricity to the host communities in the Kolo Creek cluster.
He pleaded with the communities to give the government the last chance to get round the long-drawn blackout in the area, adding, “Nobody will blame the communities for shutting down the oil installations if the SPDC fails again for the umpteenth time to fulfill its part of the agreement.”
Speaking on behalf of the communities, the paramount ruler of Elebele, David Osene, lamented that they had been suffering without light for nine years.
He said the cluster communities had been very peaceful despite the provocative attitude of the oil firm for almost a decade, warning that they had resolved to shut down the oil installations in their area in two weeks’ time if nothing substantial was done.
The Chairman of the Bayelsa State Electricity Company, Olice Kemenanabo, said if all the necessary materials were provided, the power project could be delivered within the timelines reached at a recent meeting between Shell and the state government.
He noted, however, that only the SPDC could cause any further delay in the restoration of power to the communities as the government had already done its part.
