By Timothy Oyomare
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC} and its subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) are on collision course with Ogoni people over operatorship of OML 11 which lies in the southeastern Niger Delta and contains 33 oil and gas fields.
The Ogoni people are not happy that they were not consulted before the Federal Government ceded the operatorship to NPDC. The Group Managing Director of NNPC has been directed through a letter dated March 1, 2019, and referenced SH/COS/24/A/8540 where the President, Muhammed Buhari directed that the entire operatorship of OML 11 should be taken over by the NNPC/NPDC not later than April 30, 2019. The letter was signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.
Based on this, NPDC has placed advertisement in national dailies requesting tenderers to bid for the oil field, a development which has not gone down well with the Ogoni people, who believe they ought to have been carried along in the decision to transfer ownership of the oil field from Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to NPDC.
A group known as Conscience of Ogoni People, COOP, led by Chief Gani Topba said the tender advertisement by NPDC has the potential of causing more trouble in Ogoniland, explaining that because Shell has officially left Ogoni, does not mean any other firm would move into the Ogoni oilfield without a tripartite discussion among the parties concerned, including the Federal Government and the people.
Also, the Host Communities of Nigeria, Producing Oil and Gas, HOSCON, has also backed the position of the Ogoni people that the host communities must be consulted and consensus reached before any decision regarding change of operatorship of OML 11 can be recognized.
According to the National Chairman of HOSCON, Mike Emuh, transfer of OML 11 should be suspended until the Federal Government, NNPC/NPDC and SPDC, enter into a dialogue with the people of Ogoniland.
He advised that all demands of the Ogoni people must be met, warning that oil producing communities in the Niger Delta would not tolerate any imposition or attempt to resume crude oil production in Ogoniland without due consultations with the host community.