By Enoabasi Umondia
The press conference held on Thursday, 30th January, 2025, at the Villa Hilton Hotel, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, by chiefs and leaders of thought from Eastern Obolo Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State certainly exposed more than many persons may have thought they knew or heard about the anti-people activities of Sterling Petrochemical & Fertilizer Company Limited (SPFL), one of the IOCs operating in the area.
The text of the press statement bore the title: “The Illegal Closure of Creeks, Planned Forceful Displacement of Obianga/Ikonta Villages, and Irreparable Devastation of the Environment by Sterling Petrochemical & Fertilizer Limited”.
Historically, the exploitation record and manipulative tendencies of most, if not all, multinational oil-allied companies operating in the Niger Delta in general can never sound strange to any keen follower of activities of oil companies in Nigeria.
But in the curt words of the Paramount Ruler of Eastern Obolo, HRM Uboon (Rt.Hon.Eld.) Harry J.Etetor, illile ix, who set the tone for the press conference, the pitiable narratives in Eastern Obolo communities in particular, are said to have reached a stage that the typically peaceful and accommodating people of the area no longer could contain or keep quiet about. “It has become necessary that we speak out. When the hawk comes to capture the chicken, the chicken would always shout not necessarily to scare away the hawk but so that the owner of the chicken would be alerted of the looming danger and take prompt action to save the situation. We are helpless. That’s why we’ve have come here to tell the world in plain language of peace”, HRM Etetor stated. The thrust of the media engagement therefore was the collective concerns and burden of Eastern Obolo people as one of the highest contributors of oil and revenue to nation-building.
Whether it was about deliberate refusal by the companies to honour duly signed MOUs, lackadaisical response to oil spillage, failure or prolonged delay to pay compensation for damages if at all it was ever to be paid, disregards for statutory expectations of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), gross neglect or lack of corporate social responsibility, what have been coming out of Eastern Obolo are recurring litanies of marginalization and deprivation that Sterling Petrochemical Fertilizer Limited (SPFL) has paid a deaf ear to. Eastern Obolo people are worried that what is happening presently could potentially assume worse dimensions in the days to come if left unaddressed
Lying diagonally along the Atlantic Ocean, Eastern Obolo is one of the oil-rich local government areas not just in Akwa Ibom State but also in the Niger Delta Region. Many describe it as a natural magnetic field of diverse interests where many oil and allied International Oil Companies have been operating right from the colonial era up till today. Superabundantly blessed by virtue of enviable superfluous natural endowments, Eastern Obolo was created on December 4, 1996 out of Ikot Abasi, and still remains till this day the bread winner of the country. Ironically, it has become the hen that lays the golden egg that is always forgotten or deprived of commensurate rewards.
Sterling Petrochemical & Fertilizer Limited is a developer of a sub zone in the Liberty Oil and Gas Free Zone located in Ikot Abasi, spreading across six local government areas of Ikot Abasi, Mkpatenin, Oruk Anam, Eastern Obolo, Oniong Nnung Ndem Awa, ONNA, and Ibeno. With physical space measuring 50,215 hectares, the area is adjudged to be the largest oil and gas free zone in West Africa. Promoted by the Akwa Ibom State Government, NNPCL, and private sector partners like SPFL, the MOU was signed in May 2021 between the Akwa Ibom State Government and the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA) of the Federal Government.
Chief Joshua Matthew Ayagwung, the Village Head of Emereoke 11, one of the host communities, who read the press statement on behalf of the people, went down memory lane, compared notes, and raked up the accumulated atrocities of Sterling Petrochemical & Fertilizer Limited, conveyed the age-long lamentations of Eastern Obolo people, and appealed for interventions by appropriate quarters. Otherwise, the people will use every available legal instrument to resist any attempts by profiteers from within and afar from successfully denying them of their entitled patrimony, depriving them of their inheritance, or exterminating them from their ancestral homes.
The statement stated: “We the chiefs, leaders of thought and good people of Eastern Obolo Local Government Area are here today with deep indignation and profound concern over the operational activities of Sterling Petrochemical & Fertilizer Company Limited (SPFL), an Indian Petrochemical Company operating within the territorial precinct of Eastern Obolo Local Government Area. Recall that in the year 2022, the Akwa Ibom State Government, under the leadership of His Excellency, former Governor Udom Emmanuel acquired 1,736 hectares of our ancestral land for the operations of Sterling Petrochemical and Fertilizer Limited (SPFL). The said land was acquired exclusively from the following communities in Eastern Obolo: Ikonta, Obianga, Okoroinyong, Egwenwe, Emereoke, Iwofe and Amazaba communities.
“Since the commencement of civil works by SPFL, the lives of our people have been under siege as there are a number of critical socioeconomic and environmental challenges which SPFL has deliberately refused to address despite repeated and persuasive engagements by the host communities. Today, our land has become a theater of oppression, harassment, intimidation, destruction of environment, ecosystem and blatant disregard for our fundamental rights. These challenges, if remained unaddressed, is capable of wiping out of existence over seven gazette villages in Eastern Obolo Local Government Area and permanently displacing the inhabitants of these villages. Therefore, we have gathered today to expose the egregious injustices, highhandedness, corruption, breach of law and process, non-compliance with extant and applicable environmental laws and global best practices perpetrated by the operating SPFL on our land.
The release noted that the 1,736 hectares so acquired by the Akwa Ibom State Government was to the exclusion of ancient rivers namely Okolo Obianga/Ikonta and Okolo Otuita and other creeks, which are Federal navigable highways. It observed that there has never been any agreement either with the Akwa Ibom State Government or SPFL to permanently or temporarily close these strategic ancient routes which also serves as a fishing grounds for the host communities. Showing the geography of the area with the blocked access by SPFL, the release stated that despite protestations and existing injunctive court order by the Akwa Ibom State High Court in suit no. HU/387/2023, SPFL has employed the services of armed military personnel and militants and forcefully and illegally closed the entirety of all the creeks thereby trapping gregarious ancestral communities without any access in or out. Chief Joshua Ayagwung further argued that the initial compensation that was paid by the Akwa Ibom State Government the affected communities was “in respect of crops and economic trees and ‘’not for the closure of creeks”.
He noted that the tripartite agreement signed by the host communities, SPFL and the Akwa Ibom State Government on 17th October, 2022 was for the purpose facilitating the payment of prompt compensation and contained no clause whatsoever with the closing of creeks. The statement also maintained that they were aware of planned forceful displacement and evacuation of Ikonta and Obianga communities by the company; plan to release toxic substances into air within the communities which the statement said is “a recipe for disaster and possible breakdown of law and order. Other alleged infractions by SPFL, the statement added, include breach of environmental laws, agreements and land-grabbing; non-compliance with Local Content Laws; disregards of Corporate Social Responsibility; etc.
Consequently, some of the eight demands made by the press statement include: SPFL to immediately reopen all blocked water; jettison any plans to relocate the people; SPFL should pay the people of Eastern Obolo the sum of 100million US dollars in compensation for damage already done to the environment; a call for relevant bodies to beam regulatory lights on SPFL; and for the company to vacate the over 1,200 hectares of land occupied by them in excess of the acquired 1,736, etc. It was jointly signed by 30 persons comprising traditional rulers, academic, youths ad women groups, and representatives of various sociocultural organizations in Eastern Obolo.
From verifiable record, this is not the first time Eastern Obolo people would weep over arm-twisting manoeuvres by SPFL. It has been a recurring scenario. It would be recalled that in 2023, the Akwa Ibom State Government, in a letter through the Ministry of Lands and Water Resources, dated August 22, 2023 and signed by Mr. Aniekan Akpan, Town and Country Planning Directorate and addressed to SPFL, had expressed displeasure over the closure of waterways in Eastern Obolo by SPFL. It is apparent that the company bluffed that government intervention.
The aggregate implication is that the lofty initiatives of the Liberty Free Zone which hold great prospects for Akwa Ibom and the entire country will therefore be counterproductive if Eastern Obolo, and indeed any host communities, was made to be a victim of continued and condonable injustices by the operating companies. It is therefore time government acted. And promptly so.
