Olobia community in Bayelsa protests exclusion as Chevron's host community

Residents of Olobia settlement on the Atlantic shoreline within Koluama, Southern Ijaw Local Government on Monday thronged the Yenagoa office KEFFES Rural Development Foundation  (KRDF) to protest exclusion from Chevron host communities.

Hundreds of youths, women and elders who carried placards and sang soliderity songs baricaded the entrance of  KRDFsecretariate in Opolo area of Yenagoa.

KRDF is funded by Chevron Nigeria Ltd to impliment existing Memorandum of Understanding and development projects in the oil firm's host communities in Bayelsa.

Some inscriptions on the placads read : "Olobia community must not only benefit from negative effects of Chevron's operations", "The peace-loving people say no to exclusion,  enough is enough" , "Olobia community is an autonomous community," amongst others.

Chief Kingsley Gongo, Deputy Paramount Ruler of Olobia who led the protest said that the community embarked on the peaceful protest to draw the attention of the foundation, government and management of Chevron to the exclusion of the community from development.

Gongo said that it was regreettable that efforts to table the matter have been rebuffed asmseveral letters written to relevant authourities have yielded no results.

He said that the community had attained an autonomous community status and rcognised as such by Bayelsa government for over five years.

The monarch regretted that Chevron and the foundation was yet to recognise the community as one of its hosts, excluding them from development projects.

Addressing the protesters, Mr Faowei Biboete, Head of Administration at KRDF Secretariate pledged to convey the grieviances to the Chairman of the foundation's board of trustees.

Biboete said that it was the responsibility of the board to set criteria for including communities to benefit from Chevron's corporate social responsibility projects.

He applauded the people for their peaceful conduct and expressed optimism that the issue would be amicable resolved through dialogue between the foundation and the community leadership.

Mr Alagoa Morris, a community rights activist appealed to Chevron and KRDF to resolve the conflict through dialogue given the peaceful approach of the people.

He noted that the community provides access to the oilfields located near the Atlantic coastline in Koluama, Southern Ijaw LGA.