THE ETEIVIE family of Emede community, Isoko South Local Government Area, Delta State and the traditional ruler of the community, HRH, Johnson Egbo Ewhiri II, are currently at loggerheads over a series of instances of oil pipeline vandalism in the area.
While the royal father, who doubles as the contractor in charge of pipeline surveillance in the area pointed fingers at the family representative of the Eteivie family, which hosts the crude oil pipeline, spanning eight acres. Mr. Custom Agbogidi, the family representatives alleged the king and Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, had plunged them into untold hardship.
Family accuses monarch of complicity
He said,” My family are mostly farmers who practice their trade on that land where the pipeline passes, but the reoccurring trend of pipeline vandalism on that land is a cause of alarm as the spill whenever it occurs, damages farm produce, including aquatic life from surrounding ponds and farms in the area.”
“The most annoying thing is that whenever such spill occurs, the management of the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, in connivance with the traditional ruler of Emede, who coincidentally is the contractor in charge of pipeline surveillance for that particular pipeline, do not even deem it fit to reach out to the family in terms of ameliorating their losses as a result of the spill,” he said.
Continue here pls....
Conspiracy
Speaking on measures taken to reach out to the management of NPDC on the issue, Mr. Agbogidi said: “As a representative of the community, we expected our monarch to intercede with NPDC on our behalf, but instead, he connives with the company to prevent my family from getting any form of compensation.”
“After such vandalism, the company would deploy soldiers and other security agencies to the area to intimidate the family members and prevent them from havivg access to the vicinity, which also serves as their source of livelihood.”At a point, youths from the family impounded three vehicles of the company to press home their demands and this resulted in some form of fracas between the family and some security agents. From our personal investigation, we have found out that the perpetrators of this ugly trend are persons from Emede,” he asserted.
He said, “We have also noticed collaboration between NPDC and the monarch, who is also the contractor in charge of the pipeline surveillance from our own findings, because whenever there is such vandalism, he is not questioned as the security officer in charge of the area.”
Monarch speaks
Swiftly reacting to the accusation of the family, the monarch, who described it as malicious, said, “What am I to benefit from vandalizing my own job? NPDC has a rule that if as a contractor, where you are guiding is consistently being vandalized; your surveillance contract would be revoked from you with your agreement terminated immediately.”
“Knowing this, how and why would I send anybody to vandalize the same pipeline/am paid to protect? They are lying and are actually the brains behind the vandalism to get compensation from NPDC. “Besides, I am only a surveillance contractor and not a cleanup contractor, so there is no correlation between me and what happens after a pipeline has been vandalized,” he said.
We don’t pay compensation for vandalized pipelines — NPDC
Contacted, External Relations Manager, NPDC, Mr. Ugo Atugboko, confirmed the position of the monarch, saying, “It is a practice in the oil industry not to pay compensation when a pipeline is vandalized. “If it is due to equipment failure either due to age of the pipe but not by third party interference, we would pay, but when caused by vandals embarking on criminal activities, we would look for them, charge them for economic sabotage, prosecute and jail them.
“These are just youths trying to make money no matter how unreasonable the cause is. When there is a spill, we visit the site with officials of DPR, NOSDRA, community representatives and NPDC would meet, investigate thoroughly and DPR would give a verdict in the presence of the community representatives.
“So, if there is compensation to be paid, it is DPR that would even force us to pay, we would only go and negotiate with the company and inform DPR, and NOSDRA would not allow us dodge the payment.
