The Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson has described oil deposits in the Niger Delta as the region’s “ancestral properties”, and called on the Federal Government to consider people from the region more when allocating oil blocks.
According to TheCable, Dickson made this known in the presence of former President Olusegun Obasanjo at the foundation laying of the Aziken Petroleum Refinery project at Obunagha Gbarian, Yenagoa.
The project is scheduled to kick off in 2019.
Describing the call by Niger Delta indigenes for more oil-block allocation to them as “legitimate”, Dickson said: “We are waiting for the oil blocks, what the Nigerian government sits down and calls oil blocks are in fact and in truth the ancestral properties of the Niger Delta.
“They are pieces of our ancestral properties given away at our expenses. We are not saying others should not be included. But if we are not included, it will be wrong.
“We are yet to see the demands by the federal government that oil companies should relocate to the Niger Delta.
“I don’t know of any business which justifies pipelines crisis crossing several areas for building refineries while they haven’t built refineries from the source of crude oil.
“In all the all-producing areas around the world, the activities of those companies are located where the resources come from. We must examine our own conduct and what we do.”
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