Claim that food and other necessities were given to communities in Bayelsa State hit by flooding by the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and its Joint Venture (JV) partners has been denied by traditional authorities in the state.
Speaking to journalists in Yenagoa, King Bubaraye Dakolo (AGADA IV), chairman of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council and Ibenanaowei of the Ekpetiama Kingdom, claimed that the claim that NAOC made donations to 260 communities in River, Bayelsa, Delta, and Imo State was not only untrue but also the product of their imagination.
Further, he said that the floodwaters had shown both the federal government’s disregard of the oil-producing states that had been devastated by the storm as well as the dishonesty of international oil companies (IOCs).
King Dakolo lamented further, saying, “We also need not stress that our kingdoms and clans, our flood-ravaged kingdoms and clans, constitute crude oil blocs controlled by people and business concerns which unhappily, we do not possess.
“Even if the gas flares in our kingdoms are still burning hot despite the massive flooding, today’s news conference would touch on a topic that may not seem connected to oil and gas beyond the oil and gas money utilized for governance.
“I am talking to funds with which to give aid and welfare for the throngs of Bayelsans who are Nigerian citizens who are internally displaced after being devastated by the most terrible flood ever.
“We, the royal fathers of Bayelsa State, have observed that the 2022 flood not only wreaked unprecedented destruction throughout Bayelsa State and beyond, but it also sowed seeds of ignorance about the suffering that floodwaters could bring upon a population that resides on the level, arcuate lowlands bordering the powerful Atlantic Ocean.
“We firmly believe that the false information we have encountered this season may have contributed to the Federal Government of Nigeria’s statutory agencies’ incredibly slow and nearly disgraceful response to the plight of the more than one million victims of the Bayelsa State flood disaster in 2022.
“Given the incorrect public perception of this year’s flood, which is unquestionably the worst to ever affect the Ijaws of Bayelsa State and possibly other groups as well, it has become absolutely essential for the Royal Fathers of the State to speak out in order to straighten the crooked records and, most importantly, to shock all parties involved to do the work for which they are compensated.
“We did not hold back in denouncing the complete lack of representatives from the formal Federal Government Ministries and Agencies tasked with providing help in our domains at times like these. Instead, we observed oil employees in their coveralls operating in safety inside their shuttles throughout our flood-devastated State.
Unfortunately, there is currently no proof of any assistance provided by the oil business to the flood-ravaged residents of Bayelsa State. Perhaps they also wanted us all dead? The majority of us are still alive because we are natural swimmers, even if we are agitated and dispersed like never before.
Despite the fact that this kind of tragedy had never befallen our people, we had never anticipated that, at a time like this, such a high level of extreme insensitivity and lack of concern would be shown toward the survival and welfare of our peace people, who are all fellow citizens of this wonderful country. So egregiously nasty!
