Ogoni youths threaten to shut down pipeline network over surveillance contract

Youth leaders of Ogoni oil host communities in Rivers have threatened to shut down the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), over the alleged failure of the federal government to award the surveillance contract to an indigenous contractor.

Teddy Green, president of the group, spoke during a news briefing in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.

He said Ogoni is home to the majority of oil wells and flow stations in the Niger Delta, stressing that decades of oil exploration and extraction have left the region with significant environmental losses and damage.

To this end, he issued a 14-day ultimatum for the apex government to reverse the decision or they will make good on their threats — which will extend to shutting the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and the Petroleum Product Marketing Company (PPMC).

Green said the shutdown of the TNP would be total if the federal government fails to meet the demands before the expiration of the ultimatum.

“After 14 days of our demand. If the Federal Government refuses to listen to us or to call us for a discussion, we are going to shut down the Trans Niger Pipeline in the Ogoni axis, including the NNPC and PPMC lines,” he said.

Also speaking, Dowell Badom, one of the leaders of the body and a Niger Delta activist, criticised the federal government for disregarding Ogoni while awarding the surveillance contract.

Badom said there are capable contractors in Ogoni who can manage and complete the surveillance project

This, he said, would have given indigenous contractors a sense of empowerment.

Badom said awarding the contract to an indigenous contractor would boost the area’s economy, as the local workforce — comprised mainly of youths — would also be engaged.

However, he said the reverse is now the case.

“We condemn the award of the TNP surveillance contract to a non-Ogoni indigenous contractor,” Badom said.

“Today, no Ogoni indigenous contractor has engaged the youths there with a monthly stipend of even N40,000, the same way they operated with clusters, and our youths could not purchase as little as a bicycle.

“So putting things right in the Ogoni area is our priority. In the Niger Delta region, Ogoni Host Communities have the highest number of oil wells, flow stations, manifolds and TNP.”

Badom said it is, therefore, essential that the national security adviser, Shell, and the NNPC provide Ogoni indigenous contractors a portion of the national surveillance contract, or else the TNP would be shut down.