Oil giants live 'like kings and presidents' – Avengers decry injustice

Militant group, Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) have said whiles multinational corporations operating in the oil rich Niger Delta region are ‘‘living like kings and presidents,” the ordinary man lives in “terror of poverty, inhumanity and desolate living conditions.”

Their views were contained in a post on their website, titled ‘Enough Of This Injustice.’ According to the group, the oil find in the region since day one, has all but brought misery and untold hardships onto the people.

ENOUGH OF THIS INJUSTICE.. https://t.co/TXzqvOdpAC

— Niger Delta Avengers (@NDAvengers) June 9, 2016

They bemoan how it is that successive governments had failed to heed incessant calls by locals as they virtually pleaded for among others, ‘‘potable drinking water in the midst of plenty of water mass, electricity, roads, employment, quality education/educational facilities, resource control, participation in the oil business and inclusive governance that will engender substantial freedom.’‘

They say, the reverse is the case because whilst the oil companies in the area continually operated and raked in profits, the people continued to suffer.

They list how different oil multinationals like Shell, Chevron, Agip, ExxonMobil etc. in the oil producing regions of Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa, continue to live in luxury, with the opposite case staring ordinary people in the face on a daily basis.

NDA bombings and impact on Nigeria

The group had recently taken to bombing oil installations claiming that they did not want any international firm operating in the region. They also turned down overtures by the government to dialogue with them about a week ago.

Their attacks on oil installations have seen a slump in the production of oil in Africa’s most populous country, with Angola overtaking Nigeria as Africa’s largest producer of oil, a product facing dipping prices on the world market.

Launch of Ogoniland cleanup

The Federal Government has meanwhile launched a billion dollar cleanup of the polluted rivers, creeks and swamps in the region, pollution that till date adversely affects the local fishing communities.

The funds for the cleanup is said to be largely from the ‘polluters’ in this case the multinationals and the program is closely supervised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)