The new Escravos/Warri Gas Pipeline embarked upon by the Federal Government in Delta State has been shut down by Itsekiri women of Ugborodo Community in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.



The project being funded by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation/Chevron Joint Venture was designed to produce additional gas for the operation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria.



Findings by our correspondent revealed that the American energy giant was expected to fund the project to cross the Escravos River while the Nigerian Gas Company, a subsidiary of NNPC, was to sponsor the execution of the project from the creeks of the coastal Popo Community to the Warri base of NGC.



The project was valued at $800m. This includes the cost of procurement of pipes, pig launchers, valves and obligation to contractors.



The women seized the site of the contractors, Zakhem Nigeria Limited and Fenog Nigeria Limited, in the early hours of Saturday. The aggrieved women chased away the workers who were operating on the part of the project being funded by Chevron, Escravos River Crossing Gas Pipeline Project, and took over the place.



It was learnt that about three hundred women had turned the site to temporary abode on Sunday.



The women, including the aged, prevented the contractors from demobilising their equipment, especially drilling rods worth $50m, from the site.



The women were aggrieved that Ugborodo community was not being considered for the provision of electricity even though that the project was meant to enhance the efficiency of PHCN and improve power generation and distribution in the country.



They vowed to frustrate the project unless the Federal Government made a convincing arrangement for a steady electricity supply to the community.



The leader of the women, Mrs. Mercy Olowu, said they embarked on the action because of the insensitivity of the Federal Government, adding that the government had consistently ignored the peaceful overtures of the community for the provision of electricity and other life support facilities in the community over the years.






http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201007193144396

Good

udezue:

Good

How is that 'Good'?
People are disrupting efforts to improve power to the whole nation and you think it's good, next thing you'll turn around and blame the Federal Govt for failure to provide power.

These people will NEVER face their state and local government. Instead they'll troop out to retard progress while demanding for gratification.

These gas lines do a lot to provide an alternative route for gas that would otherwise be flared. these same people would come out complaining of gas flaring and Acid rain.

If you've ever been to Escravos, you will understand why these women are justified in their actions. The amount of projects sitting on Escravos is currently worth over $30 billion dollars. It is actually the most invested piece of real estate any where in Africa. You have the Chevron Tank farm, Escravos GTL Project and a whole lot other projects. Escravos

Sad thing is that side by side all these sits Ugborodo community. A ramshakle village with rusted zinc roofs and mud brick walls. This is a community from which tens billions of dollars are harvested yearly. With say 10 million dollars, you could set this commiunity up to be as self sufficient as possible and they would never worry your projects no more. But naaah, they rather leave them in darkness.

Some of us should try and visit these communities where the oil facilities are located.

will these troubles ever end? Hope they get a peaceful resolution.

texazzpete:

How is that 'Good'?
People are disrupting efforts to improve power to the whole nation and you think it's good, next thing you'll turn around and blame the Federal Govt for failure to provide power.

These people will NEVER face their state and local government. Instead they'll troop out to retard progress while demanding for gratification.

These gas lines do a lot to provide an alternative route for gas that would otherwise be flared. these same people would come out complaining of gas flaring and Acid rain.

The truth is that it would cost Chevron absolutely nothing to meet the simple and justifiable demands of these host communities. The real problem stems out of the diabolic nature of the FG and SG who have wrongly influenced these multinationals to be insensitive to the plights of these communities.

The power plants in those facilities produce more than ten times the required power capacity for their systems and they still flare excess gas away so I wonder why they can't just power their host communities whose power demands are insignificant.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh this is goood.i was told about it.na our mothers are being to rise up to the occassion, you need to go vist ugborodo community and see things for yourselfs, it a right stone in the right direction.if nothing is done,,,more mobilization to distrub chevron activities in the area, aghan do,

This Naija Delt,there wahala to much.You want your son as president,you have it ,Amnesty,you have it,more allocation,you have it,and you still want more, Are you guys never tire of making trouble, always in the news, making noise,

teskyg:

This Naija Delt,there wahala to much.You want your son as president,you have it ,Amnesty,you have it,more allocation,you have it,and you still want more, Are you guys never tire of making trouble, always in the news, making noise,

.

U are talking out of ignorance. U better ask questions properly to know exactly what is going on there please.
Hissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

PapaBrowne:

If you've ever been to Escravos, you will understand why these women are justified in their actions. The amount of projects sitting on Escravos is currently worth over $30 billion dollars. It is actually the most invested piece of real estate any where in Africa. You have the Chevron Tank farm, Escravos GTL Project and a whole lot other projects. Escravos

Sad thing is that side by side all these sits Ugborodo community. A ramshakle village with rusted zinc roofs and mud brick walls. This is a community from which tens billions of dollars are harvested yearly. With say 10 million dollars, you could set this commiunity up to be as self sufficient as possible and they would never worry your projects no more. But naaah, they rather leave them in darkness.

obailala:

The truth is that it would cost Chevron absolutely nothing to meet the simple and justifiable demands of these host communities. The real problem stems out of the diabolic nature of the FG and SG who have wrongly influenced these multinationals to be insensitive to the plights of these communities.

The power plants in those facilities produce more than ten times the required power capacity for their systems and they still flare excess gas away so I wonder why they can't just power their host communities whose power demands are insignificant.

And this is part of the reason why the Niger Delta is in so much turmoil today; the people expect the 'oil companies' to meet their every need, even those that are in the province of the state and federal governments.
These oil companies pay massive taxes to the state and federal government. Delta state govt no doubt gets taxes running in the millions of dollars yearly. Why is no one querying the State Government?
Escravos is as much a cash cow for the federal and State government as it is for the oil companies. Yet no one thinks it important to look in that direction?

Since 2008, i've been begging people from the Niger Delta on Nairaland to show me anything their local government chairmen have done for their communities. All i've been getting back is insults.

This is not to say that the oil companies are blameless, but we have to share the blame all round at all the principal actors.

As regards this case, i stand my ground. If the women need to disrupt anything, why a pipeline to convey gas which would otherwise have been flared? And if the women are planning to stall projects like these, what moral reason then would they have to complain about gas flaring?

Also, it is worth noting that the protesting women are directing their protests at the Federal Government, NOT Chevron.

Funny how you people could turn a demand directed at the Federal Government (who in fact SHOULD be the ones to provide power to their citizens) to upbraiding Chevron for not doing what the Government should have done.

Yeah!!!!!!!, women power.
I've never been to the Niger Delta before, but from what I have seen on both Aljazeera and CNN, that place is a not developed at all.
I pretty sure this is a fault of the Government (all sectors), the oil companies and the people there.

women are powerful

texazzpete:

Also, it is worth noting that the protesting women are directing their protests at the Federal Government, NOT Chevron.

Funny how you people could turn a demand directed at the Federal Government (who in fact SHOULD be the ones to provide power to their citizens) to upbraiding Chevron for not doing what the Government should have done.

WELL SAID , im with you all the way!!!
im presently in Warri at the moment an d i must tell you they dont know thier rights and wHO to direct issues to, no roads, water, nothing o!!things thier Local govt should do arent done,even basic things the state should provide have not been done, instead they blame everything on the oil company. Oil companies pay heavily to the state and also the elders of these communities and the citizens of the state but greed is what is a static factor in thier lives and lack of foresight. A weekago 47million was paid to a community by shell(for no reason)they collected it and one of them wanted to chop everything and they ended up killing each other,im asking, why did they not reject the money and say please build a hospital here in 3 months
lagos has the option of sharing money but chose the path of development and that is what the retards in delta state govt choose sharing cash. U should see the free money given to them, you will faint!!!!

O ga oo

Hmnn, i hope they weren't naked dis time around.

texazzpete:

Also, it is worth noting that the protesting women are directing their protests at the Federal Government, NOT Chevron.

Funny how you  people could turn a demand directed at the Federal Government  (who in fact SHOULD be the ones to provide power to their citizens) to upbraiding Chevron for not doing what the Government should have done.

We all know it's the duty of the Federal Government but it's no news that our FG is a failure. How on earth can these women possibly direct their protests to an unserious, insensitive and inept FG? who is even the FG if not some pot-bellied evil men in Abuja that think only about their pockets?

In a struggle like this, u can't blame the women for directing their grievances to chevron cos it's only chevron they see. . FG is invisible to them. We know these companies pay huge taxes to the govt and they even pay special levies to the same govt for the development of host communities but what happens to the money at the end of the day?. .i believe ur guess should be as good as mine. _{Even their chiefs, representatives, youth leaders etc are a part of the conspiracy}

I think it will be somewhat humanitarian if these companies can give a little bit more to their immediate society knowing pretty well the kind of Govt we have in Nigeria. I personally don't think it would cost the company so much to make their host communities comfortable.

dlox01:

WELL SAID , im with you all the way!!!
im presently in Warri at the moment an d i must tell you they dont know thier rights and wHO to direct issues to,  no roads, water, nothing o!!things thier Local govt should do arent done,even basic things the state should provide have not been done, instead they blame everything on the oil company. Oil companies pay heavily to the state and also the elders of these communities and the citizens of the state but greed is what is a static factor in thier lives and lack of foresight. A weekago 47million was paid to a community by shell(for no reason)they collected it and one of them wanted to chop everything and they ended up killing each other,im asking, why did they not reject the money and say please build a hospital here in 3 months
lagos has the option of sharing money but chose the path of development and that is what the retards in delta state govt choose sharing cash. U should see the free money given to them, you will faint!!!!

Crap!!! You are talking nonsense. If truly you are in Warri, you would have noticed that Warri is a much more liveable city than Lagos. There are almost no untarred roads in Warri . Lagos is filled with potholes the size of which can be caused only by earthquakes. So don't tell me Lagos chose the path of development. Money is shared is Lagos too.

The question I have 2 ask you is who is at a loss for the neglect of the communities. The oil companies loose heavily. The FG losses heavily and the communities loose heavily. The only beneficiaries are individuals which include Government officials, Oil company executives and militants.
The FG has a part to play, the IOCs have a part to play and the communities have a part to play. Everybody is at fault but the key culprits remain those that are closest to the problems and have the ability to solve them.

teskyg:

This Naija Delt,there wahala to much.You want your son as president,you have it ,Amnesty,you have it,more allocation,you have it,and you still want more, Are you guys never tire of making trouble, always in the news, making noise,

oisehumen:

.

U are talking out of ignorance. U better ask questions properly to know exactly what is going on there please.
Hissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

@post
Takes a group of women to. . . .

I'm in love with these women! If only we can all protest at these corruptions and lack of human feelings then our country will be a better one. If we can stand up as a community and oust any lawmaker in our constituent that is not fulfilling the demand of pple that elected him. I wish we all can be like this women! I wish!! I sincerely Wish!!!!

They should hold their state Government responsible.I am miffed when people always paint a  picture of how the Niger-Deltans are suffering.Is it not the  same Delta state that Ibori stole billions of Naira?Why didn't these women go and protest at His Family House or join the EFFCC to fight for his arrest?

We Nigerians are always directing our anger to the wrong side, What is wrong is wrong.They have no moral right to question and invade such project site because they were all dumb when EFCC was going after Ibori who stole billions of Naira meant to bulid houses ,roads Hospitals etc for them.

Bukittes:

I'm in love with these women! If only we can all protest at these corruptions and lack of human feelings then our country will be a better one. If we can stand up as a community and oust any lawmaker in our constituent that is not fulfilling the demand of pple that elected him. I wish we all can be like this women! I wish!! I sincerely Wish!!!!

\


i don't remember seeing anything about tyhe women challenging their lawmakers

seems they were harassing contractors who would without a doubt already have paid hefty 'community relations PR'

Where is the state government. they give them extra 13% oil revenue every month. The money is designed to help these communities, but no, those in power chop the whole thing.

The anger should be directed at Udu and his thieveing broda.

For those who remember the story of airport road in warri. When I was growing up, I remember parts of airport road being unpassable for years, after much investigation we found out that, shell at the time wanted to fix the road, and I am damn sure they would have done a good job, but no the then local government chairman, refused, and said the money must be gievn to him to run the show. Well shell declined and the road remains bad for years, just because a greedy old chairman wanted the money all for himself.

Jealousy, hate and greed is why those leaders cant succeed

The leader of the women, Mrs. Mercy Olowu, said they embarked on the action     Can see Itsekiri people are yoruba people.

The president of the christain association of Nigeria is an Itsekiri man, and his name is Ayo. That is yoruba.

Look jonathan ebelechukwu Azikiwe goodluck has no choice than bring justice or he would loss the election. can you see warri compare to yenagoe. Warri is more populated than the whole of bayelsa state. Please quote me on this.

Let them do something for the community.

teskyg:

This Naija Delt,there wahala to much.You want your son as president,you have it ,Amnesty,you have it,more allocation,you have it,and you still want more, Are you guys never tire of making trouble, always in the news, making noise,

You are obviously talking from your a**. You just sit and type crap like this, if you had no light, education, health and other basic amenities like this women you probably will know better off. Ignoramus

had sum xperience in Rivers during my NYSC years there, i served in a community where LNG paid them like 40 million naira, and the community leaders will share the money within them self, in this same community there is no electricity but they wont ask lng or whoever to provide for them all they wait for is LNG money to share everytime and they kept blaming FG everytime.
There is a bad road from Lagos bustop in portharcourt to ibeto cement factory, the chairman of the cement factory wanted to fix the bad road, the youth of that area actually stop the contractor and they demanded for 20 million naira from the chairman of the cement factory that he has to pay them before he can fix the road. the road he actually wanted to fix for them. but seriously communities in Niger Delta area lacks good leaders as well,

^^^

Well in such case, then the company does not have to face any form of problem with or have their operations disrupted by the community.

However, in some other cases, the multinationals neglect the MOU (Memorandum of understanding); an agreeement signed between the company and government/community - which is to construct access roads, provide electricity and potable water to the community, carry out skill development programmes for community peeps/workers (i.e, scaffolding, welding training, etc.). This is generally done as a compensation for the community who will suffer from environmental degradation by company vehicles/equipment, the gas flare, noise,  etc. from the gas plants/facilities.

Therefore, if the company fails to uphold its part of the agreement (MOU), the community may be aggrieved and decide to protest by besieging the site to stop all works/activities (should in-case their plight/protest is not addressed by the Project Advisory Committee, PAC - which consists of members of the three parties).

Please some of us really need to understand the agreement(s) made and full situations associated with these kind of issues before jumping on the bandwagon,

PapaBrowne:

The question I have 2 ask you is who is at a loss for the neglect of the communities. The oil companies loose heavily. The FG losses heavily and the communities loose heavily. The only beneficiaries are individuals which include Government officials, Oil company executives and militants.
The FG has a part to play, the IOCs have a part to play and the communities have a part to play. Everybody is at fault but the key culprits remain those that are closest to the problems and have the ability to solve them.

So why then do you target the oil companies in your statements when the communities fit the criteria you set out: they are close to the problems and have the ability to ensure an efficient solution to their problem is applied?
These community leaders have a track record of appropriating sums of money meant for their development. The community youths have a track record of voting in corrupt people as their representatives in the state and local government. They have a track record of setting unrealistic targets, for refusal to take time and effort to understand where to direct their ire at their lack of development.

Well something is going to have to change in Nigeria IN TERMS of the Migration because in the developed world places where there is massive exploration of Gas, Oil, pretochemicals etc- people dont really live there. . . .

as its hazardous

mojounited:

^^^

Well in such case, then the company does not have to face any form of problem with or have their orations disrupted by the community.

However, in some other cases, the multinationals neglect the MOU (Memorandum of understanding); an agreeement signed between the company and government/community - which is to construct assess roads, provide electricity and potable water to the community, carry out skill development programmes for community peeps/workers (i.e, scaffolding, welding training, etc.). This is generally done as a compensation for the community who will suffer from environmental degradation by company vehicles/equipment, the gas flare, noise,  etc. from the gas plants/facilities.

Therefore, if the company fails to uphold its part of the agreement (MOU), the community may be aggrieved and decide to protest by besieging the site to stop all works/activities (should in-case their plight/protest is not addressed by the Project Advisory Committee, PAC - which consists of members of the three parties).

Please some of us really need to understand the agreement(s) made and full situations associated these kind of issues before jumping on the bandwagon,  

The ONLY bandwagon in the Niger Delta is to blame the oil companies for EVERYTHING. And that's just plain silly. It's also the reason why the region remains backwards and poor.
naturally, the Federal Govt which collects over 80% of the crude oil revenue is extremely happy to collect only 1% of the blame.

I find it really amusing. The federal government is by far the chief beneficiary of the oil exploitation, and the only blame they collect (if any) is that from supposedly educated people who condemn  them for being 'too soft on the oil companies'.

The Multinationals are not angels. They have a role to play and they have so far not done the best job of doing that. But if the Niger Delta indigenes cannot summon up the sense to tackle their Federal, State and Local governments, then they should know that they too have a hand in their sorrows!
before i 'chop' any insults, i will insist that i am not defending the Oil Coys, i'm merely trying to help people see that the rogues gallery of the Niger Delta also includes the Local, State and federal Government. And if the people of that region cannot get up in 2011 to start making changes via the ballot box, then there's no hope for them.