PUNCH

Youths of Agbidiama Community in the Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State staged a protest on Thursday and shut down the Clough Creek flow station operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria.

They accused the SPDC of not providing employment and empowerment schemes, refusal to engage indigenous firms for catering services and neglect of the community and its leadership.

President of Agbidiama Youth Council, Mr Torke Ekpetun, accused SPDC and other oil-servicing companies operating in the area of abandoning their developmental obligations to the community.

He claimed that an allied firm, Clinthwealth Nigeria Limited, which was contracted by the SPDC to provide services at its oilfield in the area, had neglected the community youths since 2018, among other grievances.

Ekpetun said, “We frown at the current situation whereby host communities will bear the adverse impacts of operations of these oil companies with little or no benefit.

“We are yearning for dialogue to resolve all issues. They (SPDC and others) have refused to recognise a duly constituted youth leadership in employment matters.”