Abuja—Lawmakers from Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta States in the House of Representatives on Tuesday raised a motion in the house entitled: “The need to address the imminent civil disorder and breakdown of law and order across the Niger Delta arising from the skewed internal operations of the Nigeria AGIP Oil Company Limited.
The lawmakers pointed out
that “all senior management positions in NAOC are occupied by personnel of a certain geopolitical zone.”
In the motion raised by Hon. Preye Oseke representing Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency, the lawmakers expressed their displeasure over “the deliberate and calculated attempt to, in a sustained fashion, replace all senior management staff of NAOC with those of the aforestated geo-political zone is not only discriminatory, but amounts to a clear breach of sections 14 (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) on the application of the federal character principle.”
The lawmakers also stated that “almost eighty-five percent (85%) of senior management positions in NAOC are occupied by persons of the same zone.”
They, therefore, lamented that the “skewed repositioning” has deprived host states of Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta the opportunity to man strategic positions in the company.
Worried that the development if not nipped in the bud, may lead to chaos in the three states involved, the federal lawmakers mandated the house committee on petroleum resources (upstream) to investigate the issue.
The document was signed by Hon. Preye Influence Goodluck Oseke, Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency, Bayelsa State; Hon. Israel Sunny-Goli, Brass-Nembe Federal Constituency, Bayelsa State; Hon. Chinyere Emmanuel Igwe, Port Harcourt II Federal Constituency, Rivers State; Hon. Julius G. Pondi, Burutu Federal Constituency, Delta State; Hon. Bob Solomon, Ahoada East/Abua-Odual Federal Constituency, Rivers State; Hon. (Rev.) Ejirogene Waive, Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu Federal Constituency, Delta State and Hon. (Dr.) Abiante Awaji Inombek Dagomie, Andoni/Opobo/Nkoro Federal Constituency, Rivers State.
Others include, Hon. Nam-Obi Prince Uchechukwu, Ahoada West/Ogba-Egbema/Ndoni Federal Constituency, Rivers State; Hon. Dekor Dumnamene Robinson, Gokana/Khana Federal Constituency, Rivers State; Hon. Frederick Y. Agbedi, Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency, Bayelsa State and Hon. Obua Azibapu Fred, Ogbia Federal Constituency, Bayelsa State.
Mangrovepen.ng earlier reported that a group, the Swamp and Land Areas Landlords of Nigerian Agip Oil Company, had threatened to stop the operations of the NAOC over alleged ethnic cleansing and removal of “the best brains from the Niger Delta are being removed and replaced by staff from the Igbo-speaking areas of the country.”
