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The House of Representatives is planning to investigate the failure of the performance of the N6.5 billion shoreline protection contract awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2006.
Adopting a motion on notice sponsored by Donald Kimikanoh Ojogo (APC, Ondo), the House called the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to urgently provide temporary relief materials to cushion the immediate impact of the ravaging sea incursion on the latest victims in Ayetoro community in llaje Local Government Area of Ondo state.
Leading a debate on the motion, Ojogo informed the House that the oil-producing Ayetoro community is not just a major revenue source of the nation, but a phenomenal historical and cultural settlement along the coastal stretch of llaje Local Government Area of Ondo state.
According to him, the Ayetoro community and its environs account for 5.4 percent of the 60,000 Barrel Per Day (BPD) of Ondo State’s crude oil production output amounting to about 3.7 percent of Nigeria’s total oil production ranking Ondo State 5th among Nigeria’s oil-producing states as captured by the NDDC law.
He said the devastating sea incursions and ocean surges have been the albatross of the Ayetoro community for over two decades destroying properties and displacement of indigenes, thus disrupting the oil-exploration activities owing to varied reactions by indigenes of the area.
He said the surge has become an annual occurrence and an alarming rate that successive administrations in Ondo State appear overwhelmed, thus helpless.
He disclosed that Also the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2004 attempted to stem the slide by awarding the contract for the construction of a shoreline protective wall designed with a tube technology in Ayetoro to Gallet Nigeria Limited at an original contract sum of N6.4 billion, of which 25 percent was reportedly paid.
He said further that the contract was revoked in 2009 for alleged lack of capacity and re-awarded to Dredging Atlantic Limited at an undisclosed cost and sixteen years after the contract was first awarded, there is nothing to show any intervention by the government.
He said that owing to this pitiable level of no action by the mobilised contractor(s), a particular surge that happened towards the end of the year 2022 reportedly caused the displacement of nearly 2,000 people, 13 deaths, and the destruction of over 200 homes.
He disclosed that the situation has generated tension in the oil-producing communities as restive youths have reportedly commenced mobilising themselves to disrupt the lawful activities of oil-producing companies, thereby creating a state of unease and seeming insecurity.
