Protesters shut down Seplat Energy flow stations in Sapele, Delta State
Hundreds of men and women under the auspices of Okpe Oil and Gas Forum, over the weekend, shut down Seplat Energy Flow stations across Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State in protest against alleged marginalization by the oil company.
The protesters, as host to the indigenous oil company, alleged that the firm was indifferent to their welfare as well as engaging their indigenes in low positions unlike others.
They therefore, demanded better working conditions and that the company should treat them equally like their counterparts in other places
Some of the protesters placards read: “Treat us well in our land”; ‘’We are not slaves”; “We are suffering in our land inspite of the blessings; “We are tired of being treated badly,” while the women danced round Oton and Amukpe flow stations.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the Financial Secretary of Sapele Okpe community and member of the forum, Comrade Eloho Ogodo said they were tired of being slaves in their land.
“We are working like elephants and taking home peanuts. We are not here on our own, we are under the instruction of the President of the forum, Chief Dickson Omoraka.”
“Our people are being employed in low positions like messenger, cleaner, security men and so on and paid very poorly. That is why we said we are fed up, not until they listen to us we are not leaving here today ,” he said.
The Vice Chairman of the Sapele Okpe Community, another member of the Okpe Oil and Gas Forum, Mr. Freeborn Ogodo, said it was disheartening to be treated like a slave in his own land, insisting that the Okpes have been too quiet for a long time.
“Imagine our brothers been poorly paid compared to the others. They say we are only fit for low jobs and we are paid forty thousand naira to fifty thousand naira while the same people in other places are paid hugely” adding that they are fed up of the continuous maltreatment from Seplat energy.
Mrs. Victoria Kekeke, who spoke on behalf of the mothers in the community, expressed the pain of seeing their children unemployed or employed in low-paying positions.
She highlighted the struggles of impoverished widows and stressed the importance of Seplat considering the qualifications of the Okpe workers and providing them with fair opportunities and wages.
A member of the Egweya Group of the Sapele Okpe Community, Mrs. Rebecca Atori, condemned the practice of paying Okpe workers meager salaries while others in the same positions earn significantly more.
However, in a press statement, Seplat Energy expressed its commitment to best practice in the management of contractor personnel.
The company claimed that on Friday, 19 May 2023 at 0600 hours, some community indigenes working as contractors’ personnel invaded its facilities at Amukpe and Sapele West locations, disrupting production activities and subsequently forcing a brief halt to business activities, including a declaration of force majeure to affected customers.
It said:“Through stakeholder engagements and collaboration with the Government, the disruption has been resolved and normal operations have resumed.
“At Seplat Energy, our contractor personnel are encouraged to make their grievances known (if any) through their managing contractors or designated Seplat officials, or otherwise leverage established third-party mediation channels.
“We are actively looking into why these individuals opted for a disruptive action without recourse to established procedures and with no concern or regard for public safety and national interest (our Seplat West facilities supply about 37 per cent of the gas used for power generation in the country).
“Our stakeholder engagements continue. We have established through a meeting with the contractors’ personnel, security agencies and Okpe Host Communities Forum leaders, that the disruption was due to the individuals’ demands for salary increment and automatic conversion to regular staff. The contractors managing these individuals have been notified of their actions, and we understand that plans were underway to implement a salary increment for their personnel before the incident occurred.
“We must emphasize that during the invasion of our facilities, we ensured the safety and security of our staff which is always our primary priority. All of our production staff are safe, and no injury or harm was recorded.
“Seplat Energy continuously strives to ensure best practice in the management of personnel provided to us by third party service providers, including regular engagements on their grievances. These service providers will continue to engage their personnel and amicably address the concerns raised by them.
“We would like to appreciate the support from our community leaders and the government security agencies in working together with Seplat Energy to efficiently manage the situation, prevent any HSE incident and promptly restore normal operations. As part of our continuous improvement initiatives, we are maintaining an open line of communication with all concerned parties and in the coming weeks, we will complete a post-mortem and extract critical lessons-learned to strengthen our operations and prevent any recurrence.”
