By John Odhe, YENAGOA
As preparations intensify for the Bayelsa State 30th anniversary celebration, the Niger Delta Development and Monitoring Group (NIDDEMOG) has decried the prolonged neglect of oil bearing communities in the State.
The group highlighted Abureni Clan and other oil bearing communities particularly Idema, Okoroba, Agrisaba, Oluasiri among others in Ogbia and Nembe Local Government Areas as some of the communities that have suffered neglect by oil companies and past governments.
NIDDEMOG said the affected communities remained largely cut off from neighbouring settlements due to the absence of access roads and basic infrastructure, describing the situation as unacceptable 30 years after the creation of Bayelsa State.
The group, through its Executive Director, Chief Nengi James-Eriworio, who is also an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), said residents of the communities continued to live in conditions that effectively isolate them from the rest of the state.
According to the organisation, the lack of access roads had created serious economic and security challenges for the people, particularly farmers who struggle to transport their produce to markets despite their economic contributions to Bayelsa and the Nigerian state.
It also said the difficult terrain and isolation had exposed residents to attacks by criminal elements, while the absence of basic infrastructure continued to deepen poverty and frustrate economic activities.
NIDDEMOG expressed concern that communities hosting oil-producing assets could remain so poorly connected to the wider society, with little visible development to show for their contribution to the state’s economy.
The group said the 30th anniversary of Bayelsa State should provide an opportunity for governments and interventionist agencies, including the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to take a fresh look at communities that have remained outside the mainstream of development.
“It is sad and regrettable that after 30 years of the creation of Bayelsa State, some of these communities still cannot be properly accessed,” the group said.
NIDDEMOG called on the state and federal governments, as well as relevant interventionist agencies, to make deliberate efforts to reach forgotten and abandoned communities across Bayelsa, insisting that development should not be concentrated in a few urban centres.
The organisation also raised questions about the level of federal government’s presence in the state, particularly the condition of abandoned federal housing projects and roads.
While acknowledging the ongoing debate over the use of the 13 per cent derivation received by oil-producing states, NIDDEMOG said the federal government should equally account for the impact of its share of the nation’s oil revenues in the Niger Delta.
“If the Federal Government is asking the Niger Delta states what they are doing with their 13 per cent derivation, it should also show the people what it is doing with its 87 per cent,” the group said.
NIDDEMOG stressed that the development challenge in the Niger Delta could not be addressed by focusing only on revenue distribution without confronting the stark infrastructure deficit in many oil-producing communities.
James-Eriworio said the group was particularly worried about the plight of the people of Obureni and other similarly isolated communities across the state.
He called for urgent intervention to open up the communities, improve security, provide basic amenities and create conditions that would enable residents to participate meaningfully in the state’s economy.
NIDDEMOG maintained that the 30th anniversary of Bayelsa should go beyond celebration and serve as a moment for reflection on communities that have yet to feel the impact of three decades of statehood.
The group said development must be deliberately and equitably distributed across Bayelsa so that no community, particularly those contributing to the state’s economic wealth, is left alienated from the benefits of development.
