Oil & Gas
Ilaje Advancement Forum, a group in Ondo State, has called for the relocation of the Ondo State Oil Producing Development Commission (OSOPADEC) headquarters from Akure to Igbokoda in Ilaje Council Area.
Mr Olarotimi Adogun, the Chairman of the forum made the call in statement on Thursday in Akure.
The State governor, Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu had in November 2016, promised to relocate the headquarters OSOPADEC from Akure, the state capital to Igbokoda with an Area Office at Igbekebo, the headquarters of Ese-Odo Local Government Area.
Akeredolu, who made the pledge during his visit to the palace of Olugbo of Ugbo land, Oba Fredrick Akinrunta, stated that the relocation would ensure that the commission was closer to the people and more effective at Igbokoda than in Akure where it is presently sited.
According to him, the administrative headquarters of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is situated in Port Harcourt, Rivers, not in Abuja, the federal capital city of Nigeria.
Adogun, however, noted that if the commission headquarters could be relocated to the oil community, it would make the agency more efficient and closer to its base of operation.
He said that it was also disheartening that the Ilaje people had been systematically marginalised, relegated, ostracised, cheated, neglected and deprived of basic social amenities.
“Mr Governor will agree with us that Ilaje land is responsible for more than 85 per cent of the total allocation accrued to Ondo State.
“And it will not be out of tune to claim that Ilaje Local Government Area is the mainstay of the state economy without which the state will not be able to meet her obligations.
“OSOPADEC must be granted financial autonomy with an allocation account opened for it where 40 per cent of the monthly allocation should be deposited in accordance with the extant law that established the commission in order for it to utilise the funds judiciously.
“We want to make it clear that the era which OSOPADEC funds are arbitrarily mismanaged, illegally diverted or misappropriated has passed as we will be closely monitoring how our money is spent,’’ he said.
Adogun called for more employment opportunities for the Ilaje indigenes in OSOPADEC while all “mercenaries imported’’ to work in that agency should be disengaged.
He also decried the 10 years power outage in the area, appealing to the state government to pay the reconnection fee of N74 million to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and other necessary support to connect the local government area to the national grid.
He urged state government to upgrade all public schools in the area to make them conducive for learning, adding that all abandoned projects should be revisited and contractors mobilised to site.
“We demand that the contracts for wooden bridges and walkways should be rescinded and replaced with modern concrete bridges and walkways as obtainable in civilised countries,’’ he said.
Adogun urged the state government to take drastic action against continued sea encroachment of land particularly at Ayetoro and Mese communities in the area.
He called for the reconstruction of dilapidated structure at the Igbokoda General Hospital and provision of well-equipped health facilities in the riverine communities as well as potable water. (NAN)
– June 21, 2018 @ 14:27 GMT |
Tags: a group in Ondo State has called for the relocation of the Ondo State Oil Producing Development Commission (OSOPADEC) headquarters Ilaje Advancement Forum
