Edo Youth: Stop Fighting Over Colours — Build Wealth Through Local Content-Douglas Ogbankwa 

Edo State is one of the most naturally endowed States in Nigeria. The Mineral, natural and human resources that abound in Edo State are capable of making the State an industrial hub in Africa as a whole.

The resources range from oil and gas to limestone to the red sand, which is perhaps the best in the world. Edo’s Timber produces some of the most exquisite furniture in the world. The capacity for Edo to produce alternative energy sources like ethanol is depicted in the ethanol refinery in Ologbo, near Benin. However, the local farmers have been shortchanged and not given an opportunity to engage in fair trade and control of their land as it is elsewhere.

The are several oil and gas companies operating in Benin. Edo is reputed to have the highest concentration of gas in Africa. These resources, however, have not been harnessed to benefit the locals.

The NNPC: E & P, formerly NPDC, has its headquarters in Oko /Ogba Communities in Benin City. That company is perhaps the largest oil exploration company in Africa, rubbing shoulders with Gazprom and Petrosbras, but so far Edolites have been marginalised in the Company; the Community Relations Manager of the Company is not from Edo State. The way and manner Edo’s interest is treated is with so much disdain. If you even write them a letter, they do not reply to your letters. This is something they can not attempt in Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa States. The only reason they treat us this way is that we are peaceful. You do not get what you deserve; you get what you bargain for.

They mistake the slow movement of Edo Youth for weakness. So, even their corporate social responsibility projects hardly benefit the Edo People. The Edo People are treated with so much levity , while young boys fly in and out of Benin to pick jobs and contracts in millions of dollars.

The Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, provides that 5 per cent of the Operational Budget of an Oil Company in a year should be given to the Host Communities through a Committee of the Host Community, like a direct revenue derivation for the Community. I stumbled on a communication from an oil company in one of the Niger Delta States proposing 10s of billions of naira as the arrears of the 5 per cent of community derivation, and the community declined, asking for more to be calculated by computation of mathematical exactitude.

In Edo State, it is either the Host Communities do not know the law, or there is a compromise of some persons.There is too much marginalisation of the locals in Edo. I once wrote a letter to NPDC asking for the number of Edo Indigenes on their payroll and the level of involvement of Edo Indigenes in the contracts there. They did not reply. Ultimate Equal was my client in that letter.

Contracts like security, cleaning, landscaping, supply of stationery, supply of consumables, supply of fuel, employment as drivers, security men, cleaners and technicians are supposed to be undertaken by locals. Beyond that, Locals are supposed to occupy a percentage of the Senior Staff Cadre. There are supposed to be scholarships for Edos in Universities, even for master’s level abroad.

Even the mega contracts, the Locals who have competencies, are given a fair share. The Ologbo Modular Refinery is the only refinery in Nigeria that does not have a pre-construction MOU, a construction MOU and a post-construction MOU. The Locals there are not in any way factored into the business matrix. This is also the matrix in the Seplat Plants and other oil facilities in Edo State.

The Edo Government, by H.E., Senator Monday Okpebholo, the Governor of Edo State, should open up the field for Edo Indigenes to benefit from their natural resources. I once did a matter for some youths in one of the States close to Edo, and I was shocked at the huge resources at the disposal of these youths, as money got from local security and surveillance. I was shell-shocked, and Edo Youth must look beyond land measuring 100feet by 100feet and “Emolu”.There is a whole lot going on in Edo economically, and the Youth have to wake up and see what is right in front of them , but we need Government support.

A New Edo is Rising, and the Youth should rise with the momentum. The issues are, however, technical, and you need to use people who have technical knowledge to advance the cause. As a former Commissioner of Police in Edo State, AIG Retired Abutu Yaro once said If Nigeria wants to play Brazil, Nigeria will go to the field with its first 11

Edo Young Boys, stop killing yourselves under the guise of cultism, open your eyes and protect your common patrimony. Unite and fight for your rights, and not fight yourselves. Akugbe Ere”etin-Unity is strength.

Douglas Ogbankwa Esq . is the Founder of Benin Writers ‘ Society and Co-Founder of the New Edo Movement with Noma Ogbomo.