OML 42: IYC Scribe Pukon Cautions Military Not To Intimidate Protesting Workers, Contractors Of NPDC/NECONDE
By Binebai Princewill
Secretary general of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, Rt. Hon. Frank Pukon has tasked the Nigeria military not to intimidate protesting contract staffs and indigenous contractors of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC)/NECONDE JV in OML 42, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.
The Ijaw Youth leader made the call earlier today via a media chat with The Liberator Newspapers in Warri, Delta State.
Speaking further on the matter, Hon. Pukon stated that OML 42 operated by NPDC/NECONDE JV had been intertwined in a frosty relationship with their host communities.
The IYC secretary, a leader from the area while cautioning the Nigeria military not to intimidate the indigenous workers and contractors of NPDC/NECONDE JV maintained that the military has no business with intimidating the people that are duely fighting for their rights.
He said the best the military can do is to protect the facilities from being vandalised by hoodlums, frowning that so long as the people are protesting peacefully without any form of vandalism, the military should keep clear and allow the people to demand for their rights.
He particularly described the relationship between NPDC/NECONDE JV and their host communities as a master servant relationship, stressing that while the companies have deliberately refused to pay indigenous contract staffs, the indigenous contractors are also suffering massively as they are being owed several months without payments despites executing their contracts which he described as peanuts when compared to what they are giving out to others not from the region.
However, the IYC secretary stated that the national leadership of the Ijaw Youths Worldwide will soon come out with a comprehensive statement stating council’s position on the raging imbroglio rocking the facility in recent times.
However, investigation by The Liberator Newspapers revealed that the Odidi Flow Station In OML 42 has entered day five (5) of its shutdown as negotiations have not yielded any positive result for its reopening.
Meanwhile, all efforts geared towards reaching out to officials of NPDC/NECONDE JV to hear their own side of the story has proven abortive as at the time of filling this report.
