Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, on Saturday, demanded that more oil blocs should be given to oil-producing areas because they are “the ancestral properties of Niger Delta.”
He also called on multinational oil colonies to heed the directive by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to relocate to the Niger Delta which produces the crude oil.
Dickson threw the challenge during the foundation laying ceremony of Azikiel Petroleum Refinery Project at Gbarian, Yenagoa, and witnessed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The refinery takes off in 2019.
He said: “We need more of this investment for our people to be part of it. At anytime I have opportunity as a governor of a federating unit, I will use the opportunity to commend President Muhammadu Buhari and tell him that we need more of this.
“We are talking of ownership of oil blocs because that is a legitimate demand. We are yet to see the demands and directive 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. We are waiting for the oil blocs, what the Nigerian government sits down and calls oil blocs 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 other should not be included. But if we are not included, it will be wrong.”
Dickson commended Obasanjo whose administration, according to him, gave Bayelsa State two (indigenous) oil blocs, while he (Dickson) did certain things to right the wrongs of the past when he was the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.
“The investment will take off all the stress and pressures on us. I’ve signed the Certificate of Occupancy for 99 years in line with the Land Use Act. I do this every week and one of the first things I did when I came to office was to liberalise land”, he stated.
Obasanjo commended Buhari for giving out 22 licences for a local refinery, saying unlike others who diverted their licences for other uses, Dr. Azibapu Eruani Godbless, President of Azikel Group, is “a sincere entrepreneur.”
He said: “In 1956, the colonial powers couldn’t turn the hands of the clock. If they could, our independence would have been deferred by a few years
“I understand that Buhari gave out 22 licences. But this is the only one that is being actualised. Before then, we gave out 18 licences. Not one was actualised. We thank Buhari for giving four more licences than we gave. He’s lucky that one is being actualised.
“They give all manners of excuses including insecurity and oil prices. But those excuses thy give are still there. But they were not genuine entrepreneurs. They were after collecting licences to get crude oil. This governor (Dickson) is a transformational leader. He will provide conducive environment for businesses to flourish.”
