The people of Bayelsa state have called on the Nigerian government to properly name the Oloibiri Museum and Research Centre after Otuabagi Community, said to be the real host community to avoid the mistake made by Shell Petroleum Development Company [SPDC] who found the first oil well in the location.
Speaking during the ground breaking ceremony of the Oloibiri Museum and Research Centre in Bayelsa state, the Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, who represented the governor, Senator Douye Diri, confirmed that indeed the Otuabagi Community are the host community to the famed Oloibiri first oil pump station. Â
The state governor expressed gratitude to the Buhari-led federal government for acceding to one of the demands of the state where the first oil well was struck in Nigeria in 1956.
The Governor posited that most of the agitations in the country, including the Niger Delta question, would not have arisen if resources were equitably distributed. Highlighting the positive multiplier effects of the projects, Governor Diri pledged readiness to collaborate with the federal government and other critical stakeholders to translate them to reality.
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He said it is high time the federal government corrected some of the mistakes of the past when important oil landmarks were wrongly named. He gave example oil wells located in Nembe local government area in Bayelsa to Soku in Rivers state.
His words: “The cry of Oloibiri and Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta is not for justice. Our cry is for equity. A society that does not put equity before justice can never make progress. Justice is only a remedy to inequity.
“As a state, we are happy about what we are seeing here today. We believe that equity has started coming to sit in Bayelsa because all we want is that there should be equitable distribution of resources in this country.
“It is, therefore, our firm belief and gratitude that the Federal Government has finally taken the bull by the horn to execute this project, which will have so much multiplier effects on the state and the country in general,” the governor said
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