NEWSNOW

Ensure pipeline protection in S/West goes to indigenous companies, Coalition tells Tinubu

A coalition under the aegis of Oodua Nationalist Coalition (ONAC) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure an indigenous company in the region handles the protection of petroleum pipelines in the South West.

ONAC, a coalition of 45 pan-Yoruba groups, made the call on Wednesday in a statement jointly signed by its Organizing Secretary General, Sunday Akinnuoye and the Women Leader, Alahaja Munirat Ojuolape, saying that the people of the South West were disturbed that contracts for the protection of pipelines in the Ijawland were given to indigenous companies in the area while the protection of pipelines in the South West area had been given to companies not indigenous to the South West.

“This decision has caused a lack of cooperation among the indigenous people in the South West who feel sidelined by the award of pipeline protection contracts in their indigenous territories to companies alien to them.

“Any pipeline protection in the South West should be handled by companies based in the region and owned by people of the South West. This is equity based on common sense,” the Coalition demanded.

ONAC commended President Tinubu for renewal of the private pipeline protection mechanism, insisting that pipelines in the West zone from Ondo to Lagos should be handled by a company owned by people indigenous to the South West.

This was just as the coalition quickly recalled that during the Amnesty programme, armed groups in Ilaje Yoruba territories handed over their weapons as condition for peace and with the hope that the government would address their grievances but regretted that the Ilaje Yoruba groups had been denied the opportunity given to their counterparts in the Niger-Delta.

It, however, noted that Ondo State has the longest coastline in Nigeria, saying that Ondo and Lagos states were oil producing areas, just as ONAC asserted that people of South West had been voting overwhelmingly for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) since 2015, disclosing that Ondo State recorded the highest percentage of votes for President Tinubu in the last poll exercise.

“The people have voted for APC overwhelmingly since 2015. In the last election, Ondo State recorded the highest percentage of votes for President Tinubu. It is, therefore, embarrassing that the Federal Government does not consider any company worthwhile in the entire South West for pipeline protection in the vast territories.

“Security of pipelines can only best be handled by people indigenous to the area. Security is a local matter. The people of the South West cannot understand why the protection of pipelines in the region is not the responsibility of people who own the land where the pipelines pass through,” the group sadly said.

Speaking further, ONAC argued that there was no justification for giving out the protection of oil pipelines in the South West to people from other regions, saying that the region had a retinue of experts in the Niger Delta Coastline Vanguard (NDCV) that were competent enough to protect the pipeline in the entire zone, adding that it was high time the protection of pipelines went to indigenous companies in the South West.

The coalition said it had to shelf its planned mass demonstration in South West key cities because it believed President Tinubu would listen to the concerns raised by the people.

“We see what goes on in the North where the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) had been set up. The members are local people who are indigenous to the areas of operation. Why should this be different in the case of the oil pipelines in the South West?” the coalition queried.

The group disclosed that it was resolved to send petitions to the president and expected that the injustice would be promptly corrected, saying millions of youths in the South West were angry about the development.

“Apart from the fact that the decision will not guarantee safety for the pipelines since the people consider the companies as alien to them, it had also robbed many Yoruba youths of the opportunity for jobs at a time of economic meltdown,” ONAC said.

READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE