The Ohaji Egbeme, Oguta communities in Imo State have lamented the neglect they have been experiencing from oil multinationals and the federal government despite hosting about 163 oil wells that attract revenue to the government.
They expressed displeasure at the fact that when impacts of oil and gas extraction are discussed at national level the focus is only on the Niger Delta and no mention of the Southeast which also has oil and gas projects and suffers similar impacts.
While Oguta hosts three oil multinationals – AGIP, Shell and Chevron, Ohaji Egbema hosts the Ibigwe onshore marginal oil field located in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 16 now operated by Waltersmith refinery but earlier operated by Shell before 2004. Communities in Ohaji-Egbema suffer from impacts of gas flaring.
Representatives of the communities made their views known at a town hall and focus group discussion organized by the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) in Owerri, the Imo State capital after a field visit to some impacted sites in the two communities. The sites visited include Abacheke village, Obokofia, Mmahu village and Ogada Abaesi where oil polluted and burnt farmlands, polluted ponds and dilapidated houses occasioned by extractive activities were documented.
RDI Executive Director, Philip Jakpor explained that the locals are right in their angst against the federal and state governments for the neglect they suffer. He however noted that the locals must be united and mobilize to champion their own cause as they are better able to tell their own stories.
Jakpor also advised the locals to be wary of attempts by the oil multinationals to use divide and rule tactics to weaken their bond even as he added that the level of insecurity in the communities around the oil fields resemble the situation in the Niger Delta where there is similar occurrence added to the fact that former brothers and sisters are polarized to ensure they snitch on each other.
Ahamefuna Nnamdi who hails from Egbema said that aside oil impacts, the level of insecurity in the communities has reached a crescendo where people are afraid to speak up or have their faces in print speaking on the issues for fear of victimization by some local chiefs who get some privileges from the oil multinationals.
Ogechukwu Ajali, a farmer and mother of four revealed that most women in the communities no longer farm for fear of molestation or rape. She complained of oil slick in the environment of their farms and the fear that the environment would go up in flames at the slightest spark hence she and others had to abandon their cassava and yam farms.
They also narrated how leaking pipelines conveying refined petroleum products was left unaddressed for weeks and how young people were attracted to the scene and in the process there was an explosion that incinerated
They recalled that in January 2024 about 25 persons lost their lives during an oil explosion that occurred in Obitti in Ohaji/Egbema as a result of oil leak which was not addressed and led to siphoning of the product. That incident, they said, left scars in the environment. Similar incidents have happened in the past.
Speaking on the plight of his people, His Royal Highness (HRH), Nwokoma Chiedoziem in an interview with NewsArcade said that there is no record of the crude oil that the companies extracts from the community even as he added that, “For processed products, at times, they come in the morning and line up more than 50 trucks and pump it directly to the tankers, and move out.
He said that each time the community folks complain to the government about what they observe, government officials tell them to allow the companies to work.
He also revealed that there are more than three, four, or more oil companies that are not known to mine oil in his locality.
At the end of the engagement the representatives of the two communities agreed to form the Oguta and Ohaji Egbema host communities network through which they would continue sharing information and also use it as a platform for engaging other regions of the country especially the Niger Delta where oil impacts are also felt.