Angry protesters call for termination of Nestoil, Neconde Contracts In OML 42

Following alleged accusations of marginalisation, neglect and impoverishment of host communities of OML 42, angry protesters have called for the termination of the contracts and operational licences of Nestoil and Neconde Nigeria Limited in the said oil field.

The call was made by the Ijaw People’s Development Initiative, IPDI,( a Niger Delta watchdog organisation). The civil society group had called on NNPCL managing director Kyari, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Petroleum Minister Heineken Lokpobiri to terminate the contracts of Neconde and Nestoil in OML 42 in Delta

It was learned that Neconde Energy Limited is a consortium, formed by Nestoil Plc and this includes other Companies. According to the protesters, Nestoil being behind Neconde Consortium, acquired 45% of the Oil Mining Licence (OML) 42 in the Niger Delta, Warri Southwest Local Government Area of Delta State but showed no interest in the well-being of the host communities within the asset.

The statement reads partly, “Apart from oil spills from exploration that have negatively impacted on oil-producing communities vis a vis the environmental degradation, health and agricultural development, Nestoil is contributing to the poverty of host communities. The companies created by Nestoil with dubious intentions are visibly impoverishing the people with its high level of indebtedness to contractors who are now living with a dim hope of getting payments for the huge amounts owed to them.

“All available information reveals that contractors, workers and host community youths are suffering in silence while Nestoil’s Ernest MD, Azudialu-Obiejesi is busy buying private jets as if he is buying bread for consumption.

“Understandably, Ernest is business-oriented. He is a smart investor and he is good at expanding his investments. But the infamy lies in the use of Nestoil to push Neconde which is currently responsible for the non-payment of local contractors, thus sentencing the host communities to poverty.

“Owners of the resources now suffer degradation, squalor and poverty. As such, the Nigerian government needs to do the needful; to consider revocation of the company’s license for good.

“It is unthinkable that there is no project worth one billion nairas in any of the host communities where Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi had made over two trillion,” the statement reads.