When Nigeria discovered oil in Oloibiri in 1956,It was a wonderful site to behold, the villagers even played a football with the geologist according to anecdotal evidence and the promise was about good things to come, but today that promise has snowballed into forlorn hope.I recently went on a road trip across some host communities in Delta State around Nsukawa,Umutu,I drove from the stretch of Ogwashi up to umukwata criss-crossing various locations of flow wells managed by various partners and all I saw was a splendor of gas wealth, while the people were gaslighted with poverty.
So I wonder,what has been the effect of DESOPADEC and other parastatals set up,Have they really brought development to the people, shouldn’t the people deserve better?.
The people were largely petty traders, selling mostly groundnuts and other farm produce,I ask where is the development like how many state of the art hospitals are in these areas,I saw next to nothing but I saw gas flare constantly polluting their environment and I ask , who will remediate their hitherto destroyed ecosystem.
With the latest PIA ,I will like to see accelerated capital injection in these communities to improve on the livelihoods of these long suffering people. I will like to see world class amenities and opportunities created for the primary school students and also those across other strata of education.My mind found it difficult to juxtapose the wealth and the suffering on ground.We must do better.
