Residents of Ugborodo community in Itsekiri municipality located around the Escravos Waterways in Delta State have protested alleged neglect by oil giant, Chevron Nigeria Limited.
The protesters who picketed the company’s Operational Headquarters in Warri South-West Local Government Area of the state demanded that Chevron should honour the agreement made by both parties.
Chairman Ugborodo Community Management Committee, Austin Oborogbeyi, who spoke to Channels Television, accused Chevron of refusing to construct shoreline protection against erosion.
“Service boats continually ply this Escravos river causing waves leading to erosion on our land.”
Oborogbeyi pointed to Channels Television, an electric pole which was erected in 2000 and was inside the community, but today, the pole is on the seashore.
“And I can assure you that if nothing is done in the next 6 months, the next pole you are seeing there will be gone. And that means we will continue to move our electric poles, we will continue to move our houses.
“Chevron does not give us electricity. Chevron has electricity in the tank farm. If we can get two hours a day, we are lucky. There is no water,” he stated.
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Similarly, a Youth President in the community, Samuel Ugbonu, said oil companies have been doing business yet the community has nothing to show for it.
He called on the Federal Government to come to their aid by compelling Chevron and Shell oil companies to see to their plights.
“The community is going down day by day. And who is the company working here? Chevron and Shell. Look at, nothing for the people to show.
“If you go there, you will see that there is nothing to show that this is the community they are exploiting oil day and night,” he said.
Meanwhile, the management of Chevron Nigeria Limited in a press statement denied the allegations made by the community leaders.
The oil company said that it is committed to its Corporate Social Responsibility not just to Ugborodo community but to other host communities where its operations go on.
“CNL wishes to state that the allegations are not true.
“In fact, CNL has a long-standing relationship with Ugborodo community which dates back to years before the establishment of its new community-driven participatory partnership model for community development known as the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU),” it said.