Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) has urged governors of Niger Delta states, regional stakeholders, and host communities to take proactive steps in securing ownership stakes in oil assets by bidding for marginal oilfields located within the region.
The call was made by the Secretary-General of the IYC (Worldwide), Maobuye Nangi Odu, during a stakeholders’ meeting organised by Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL) in Port Harcourt. The meeting was attended by representatives of host communities from Rivers, Abia, and Imo states.
Odu expressed concern that host communities in the Niger Delta are continually excluded from the governance and control of oil resources extracted from their lands.
He therefore urged governors and key stakeholders from the region to take decisive action by bidding for available oil blocks and marginal fields before more of the assets are allocated to individuals and companies from outside the Niger Delta.
According to him, about 25 marginal oilfields have recently been slated for allocation, many of which are located within host communities in the Niger Delta but have reportedly been assigned to individuals and entities outside the region.
Marginal fields are oil deposits considered uneconomical for large oil companies but often viable for smaller indigenous operators. Their allocation has historically been a major source of tension in the Niger Delta, where communities have long complained of marginalisation in the management of oil resources.
Odu said state governments in the region should consider establishing oil companies capable of bidding for marginal fields within their territories.
“We expected that the Rivers State Government and other Niger Delta states would establish oil companies that can bid for marginal fields located within their states. Unfortunately, decisions about our resources are taken in Abuja without the participation of host communities,” he said.
He also warned of what he described as a less visible threat to host communities — directional drilling, a technique that allows operators to extract oil from beneath one location while drilling from a distant site.
“For instance, there could be oil wells in Port Harcourt, but someone drilling from Yenagoa could extract the oil without the host community even knowing,” he cautioned.
The IYC leader further criticised the continued practice of gas flaring across the Niger Delta by both international oil companies and indigenous operators, attributing the problem to the absence of adequate gas processing infrastructure in host communities.
He described the situation as an “unresolved injustice” to the people of the region.
However, Odu commended Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL) for its stakeholder engagement model, noting that the company’s approach to involving communities in discussions about pipeline operations was commendable.
He said the initiative serves as a positive example for other operators in the oil and gas sector.
