SHELL SET TO RETURN TO WARRI: OBOREVWORI'S PROPAGANDA, JOKE OF THE YEAR
October 24, 2023 | News
-By Zik Gbemre
SHELL SET TO RETURN TO WARRI: OBOREVWORI'S PROPAGANDA, JOKE OF THE YEAR
The trending media report that the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, is considering returning to Warri to resume core operations it exited in its West assets it divested and exited years ago is another proof of how desperate, petty and shameless Delta State Government under Sheriff Oborevwori can get in gaining cheap publicity.
Shell returning to Warri to do what exactly? To draft personal to sit idle in its main office doing practically nothing. 'Na today day break for Delta politicians?'
The statement credited to Vincent Oyibode is such a foolish propaganda by an uniformed governor's aide. As Commissioner for Oil and Gas, he represented Governor Sheriff as invitee for the annual Shell celebration of Nigeria's Independence.
Who are the so called top management of Shell Oyibode claimed to have discussed with to attract Shell setting to return to Warri? There was no near such statement from Shell. I challenge the conceited loudmouth, Oyibode to name one Shell authority he spoke to.
Shell is an organised international oil company (IOC). It is not a partisan PDP Delta state government that acts on impulse and celebrates mediocrity. There is no conviction the government of the day, like the preceding one that forced Shell out is willing to provide an enabling environment to warrant Shell's return.
Assuming without conceding there was now an enabling atmosphere, is Oborevwori expecting Shell to just move in, chase out Seplat, ND Western, Neconde, Shoreline/Heritage and the other indigenous operators who bought into Shell's West Fields assets and just takeover. Where is the motivation to return?
When pressure was on Uduaghan's led administration when Shell eventually exited Warri, I drew attention of the sitting Governor Uduaghan and relevant stakeholders then to the dangers and negative consequences of such development. They were adamant.
They were not interested on how to talk Shell out of relocating from the West. Instead the political officeholders were excited of how to steal government money to dominate the scramble for buying of the assets Shell was to leave behind.
The decision to relocate was not taken in a day. Shell is a global viable business enterprises and not a charity organisation or like government of Nigeria that employs people to sit idle and do nothing.
Returning to Delta state needs a lot to be done. Shell has to buy back the divested assets to operate and this must be done with approval of the federal government of Nigeria that owns majority shares in the oil companies through NNPC.
With no meaningful responsibility to discharge, I can understand the desperation to be heard by Vincent Oyibode, the redundant Delta Commissioner for Oil and Gas. But driving that desperation to come to the media to say Shell has promised him and his principal to return to Warri is getting overboard.
He doesn't have the capacity to lure Shell to return to Delta state.
The state government could offer to provide a conducive atmosphere to attract foreign and domestic investment to Warri.
But in all objectivity, the government Oyibode serve is more disorganised, more drunk on impunity, more oppressive to citizens who are far more unsecured than the government under which Shell exited Warri and Delta.
As I raise this concern, 'deve boys' branded as useless task force in funny uniforms are all over Warri urban, Uvwie and Udu LGAs harassing and extorting business owners, vehicle owners, land developers all over the place.
Shell is moving deeper offshore, experiencing less community crises. How do we convince Shell to go into negotiations to rebuild the assets? Has the government of the day in Delta accepted to provide a secured environment to attract foreign investments?
Warri River needs to be re-dredged at the excravos and Forcados estuaries for ship to sail through to the Warri sea port.
When stakeholders rationalise where to situate the blame over the Shell's unforgettable divestment of its key assets in Delta State, which drastically shattered the state's economy, I tell people not to look too far to find the key actors who forced that situation.
People may blame Shell, but Shell wasn't the problem. Even if Shell genuinely intended leaving Delta, it never meant to leave the way it did. The greedy, thieving politicians giving much recognition to violent youths above the law-abiding young men and women forced the Shell exit.
Not long ago, I was vindicated that a key insider, Alhaji Abdullah Bukar, a former Shell General Manager, Surface Engineering, who was a Warri home boy at heart, came out to tell the true story of Shell divestment in Delta state. His untainted account validated all I have been saying.
Bukar narrated, "Way back 1999 during the communal in-fighting in Warri, many of our (Shell) oil industry service providers started to relocate to Port Harcourt. They also preached for us Shell to do same. We refused. Every time Chief Andre van Strip and the Area Managers and I were asked, we firmly refused to accept that option.
"We even expanded Shell Ogunu-Warri Estate with new houses to show people our plan is to stay, not to pull out. The same arguments recurred in 2000 to 2003 when Chief Maarten Wink was our General Manager-West (GMW). We even started to give jobs only to service providers that are located in Warri or Ughelli deliberately.
"One of our biggest losses was when Onne Sea port alone became the offshore facilities service centre. We wanted this shared with Warri. Unfortunately, the Refusal of Ijaw youths to allow dredging of Warri and Escravos estuaries, and Chanomi Creek as well as not allowing resumption of operations at Warri Port death a blow to all our arguments.
"We tried our best then to push for Sapele port, but that also met the same blocks. Some of us opposed divestment plans but Dr Egbogah, then Presidential Adviser on Petroleum made it his chief target to deliver.
"Unfortunately our efforts for NDDC to revive industries such as Aladja Steel Plant, Rubber tapping and processing, to create jobs run contrary to Obasanjo's divestment plans, and we were laughed out of court. I was born in Katsina State, but I am a Niger- Deltan and spent the best parts of my career and life there. All my children also grew up there."
On the looming crisis over how best to manage community funds as enshrined in PIA, the former Shell General Manager advised, "Let us hold a seminar and appraise what we will do with the new Host Community Funds in the PIA, which is in addition to the NDDC levy.
"We should not let politicians and community leaders/excos squander it like NDDC. We should use it for industrial and social services development, based on knowledge and direct labour, and target many local development industries. Don't let NGOs/Activists, Community Leaders/Community Executives/Opinion leaders, Politicians and their Aides hijack it."
"The painful thing was when the pressure on Shell divest started gathering momentum, Delta politicians were more interested in buying the assets they didn't have capacity to manage and the politicians were not accountable to those who supposedly elected them.
"What we need is for those elected to be accountable and call their violent youths to order. If the politicians were accountable they would have turned the entire region to Dubai-UAE, Doha-Qatar and Kuwait City in Republic of Kuwait of today.
"Every time some NGOs and Activists in Niger Delta accuse the International oil companies (IOCs) of environmental degradation whereas their own people are responsible for the deliberate bursting of pipes that transport crude oil, escalating the environmental degradation.
"The illegal bunkers who spill crude oil/condensate in the lands and waterways are protected and commended by these so-called activists, NGOs, community leaders/community executives and politicians who are supposed to criticize them for causing environmental pollution. There are just few cases of equipment failures. Most of the spills are caused by locals and oil thieves."
So at a glance, the Deltan politicians and people are their own worst enemies. And until we tell ourselves the truth and stop promoting mediocrity in leadership, we are going no where. Vincent Oyibode is an ignorant politician who delights in talking carelessly.
Shell returning to Warri is not tea party, not wishful thinking, 'not PDP share the money'. There are fundamental issues to be addressed. Vincent Oyibode should stop talking what he lacks knowledge about.
Federal government should beg Shell to convert the Warri main office to a 'Shell Technology Centre' just like what they have in Houston, Texas and other places. No one should expect Shell to return and beg Seplat, ND Western, Neconde and others to negotiate buying back what they have sold. Shell has moved ahead.
It is also disappointing that a reputable newspaper like Vanguard joined in giving prominence to such a frivolous propaganda in a report anchored by a supposed senior journalist, Emma Amaize who should know the issues well enough to separate facts from frivolous propaganda.
Very shameful that Vanguard Newspaper promoted a redundant, uninformed commissioner on such a sensitive matter, all based on speculations, without hearing from Shell.
Zik Gbemre
October 24, 2023
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
-By Zik Gbemre
SHELL SET TO RETURN TO WARRI: OBOREVWORI'S PROPAGANDA, JOKE OF THE YEAR
The trending media report that the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, is considering returning to Warri to resume core operations it exited in its West assets it divested and exited years ago is another proof of how desperate, petty and shameless Delta State Government under Sheriff Oborevwori can get in gaining cheap publicity.
Shell returning to Warri to do what exactly? To draft personal to sit idle in its main office doing practically nothing. 'Na today day break for Delta politicians?'
The statement credited to Vincent Oyibode is such a foolish propaganda by an uniformed governor's aide. As Commissioner for Oil and Gas, he represented Governor Sheriff as invitee for the annual Shell celebration of Nigeria's Independence.
Who are the so called top management of Shell Oyibode claimed to have discussed with to attract Shell setting to return to Warri? There was no near such statement from Shell. I challenge the conceited loudmouth, Oyibode to name one Shell authority he spoke to.
Shell is an organised international oil company (IOC). It is not a partisan PDP Delta state government that acts on impulse and celebrates mediocrity. There is no conviction the government of the day, like the preceding one that forced Shell out is willing to provide an enabling environment to warrant Shell's return.
Assuming without conceding there was now an enabling atmosphere, is Oborevwori expecting Shell to just move in, chase out Seplat, ND Western, Neconde, Shoreline/Heritage and the other indigenous operators who bought into Shell's West Fields assets and just takeover. Where is the motivation to return?
When pressure was on Uduaghan's led administration when Shell eventually exited Warri, I drew attention of the sitting Governor Uduaghan and relevant stakeholders then to the dangers and negative consequences of such development. They were adamant.
They were not interested on how to talk Shell out of relocating from the West. Instead the political officeholders were excited of how to steal government money to dominate the scramble for buying of the assets Shell was to leave behind.
The decision to relocate was not taken in a day. Shell is a global viable business enterprises and not a charity organisation or like government of Nigeria that employs people to sit idle and do nothing.
Returning to Delta state needs a lot to be done. Shell has to buy back the divested assets to operate and this must be done with approval of the federal government of Nigeria that owns majority shares in the oil companies through NNPC.
With no meaningful responsibility to discharge, I can understand the desperation to be heard by Vincent Oyibode, the redundant Delta Commissioner for Oil and Gas. But driving that desperation to come to the media to say Shell has promised him and his principal to return to Warri is getting overboard.
He doesn't have the capacity to lure Shell to return to Delta state.
The state government could offer to provide a conducive atmosphere to attract foreign and domestic investment to Warri.
But in all objectivity, the government Oyibode serve is more disorganised, more drunk on impunity, more oppressive to citizens who are far more unsecured than the government under which Shell exited Warri and Delta.
As I raise this concern, 'deve boys' branded as useless task force in funny uniforms are all over Warri urban, Uvwie and Udu LGAs harassing and extorting business owners, vehicle owners, land developers all over the place.
Shell is moving deeper offshore, experiencing less community crises. How do we convince Shell to go into negotiations to rebuild the assets? Has the government of the day in Delta accepted to provide a secured environment to attract foreign investments?
Warri River needs to be re-dredged at the excravos and Forcados estuaries for ship to sail through to the Warri sea port.
When stakeholders rationalise where to situate the blame over the Shell's unforgettable divestment of its key assets in Delta State, which drastically shattered the state's economy, I tell people not to look too far to find the key actors who forced that situation.
People may blame Shell, but Shell wasn't the problem. Even if Shell genuinely intended leaving Delta, it never meant to leave the way it did. The greedy, thieving politicians giving much recognition to violent youths above the law-abiding young men and women forced the Shell exit.
Not long ago, I was vindicated that a key insider, Alhaji Abdullah Bukar, a former Shell General Manager, Surface Engineering, who was a Warri home boy at heart, came out to tell the true story of Shell divestment in Delta state. His untainted account validated all I have been saying.
Bukar narrated, "Way back 1999 during the communal in-fighting in Warri, many of our (Shell) oil industry service providers started to relocate to Port Harcourt. They also preached for us Shell to do same. We refused. Every time Chief Andre van Strip and the Area Managers and I were asked, we firmly refused to accept that option.
"We even expanded Shell Ogunu-Warri Estate with new houses to show people our plan is to stay, not to pull out. The same arguments recurred in 2000 to 2003 when Chief Maarten Wink was our General Manager-West (GMW). We even started to give jobs only to service providers that are located in Warri or Ughelli deliberately.
"One of our biggest losses was when Onne Sea port alone became the offshore facilities service centre. We wanted this shared with Warri. Unfortunately, the Refusal of Ijaw youths to allow dredging of Warri and Escravos estuaries, and Chanomi Creek as well as not allowing resumption of operations at Warri Port death a blow to all our arguments.
"We tried our best then to push for Sapele port, but that also met the same blocks. Some of us opposed divestment plans but Dr Egbogah, then Presidential Adviser on Petroleum made it his chief target to deliver.
"Unfortunately our efforts for NDDC to revive industries such as Aladja Steel Plant, Rubber tapping and processing, to create jobs run contrary to Obasanjo's divestment plans, and we were laughed out of court. I was born in Katsina State, but I am a Niger- Deltan and spent the best parts of my career and life there. All my children also grew up there."
On the looming crisis over how best to manage community funds as enshrined in PIA, the former Shell General Manager advised, "Let us hold a seminar and appraise what we will do with the new Host Community Funds in the PIA, which is in addition to the NDDC levy.
"We should not let politicians and community leaders/excos squander it like NDDC. We should use it for industrial and social services development, based on knowledge and direct labour, and target many local development industries. Don't let NGOs/Activists, Community Leaders/Community Executives/Opinion leaders, Politicians and their Aides hijack it."
"The painful thing was when the pressure on Shell divest started gathering momentum, Delta politicians were more interested in buying the assets they didn't have capacity to manage and the politicians were not accountable to those who supposedly elected them.
"What we need is for those elected to be accountable and call their violent youths to order. If the politicians were accountable they would have turned the entire region to Dubai-UAE, Doha-Qatar and Kuwait City in Republic of Kuwait of today.
"Every time some NGOs and Activists in Niger Delta accuse the International oil companies (IOCs) of environmental degradation whereas their own people are responsible for the deliberate bursting of pipes that transport crude oil, escalating the environmental degradation.
"The illegal bunkers who spill crude oil/condensate in the lands and waterways are protected and commended by these so-called activists, NGOs, community leaders/community executives and politicians who are supposed to criticize them for causing environmental pollution. There are just few cases of equipment failures. Most of the spills are caused by locals and oil thieves."
So at a glance, the Deltan politicians and people are their own worst enemies. And until we tell ourselves the truth and stop promoting mediocrity in leadership, we are going no where. Vincent Oyibode is an ignorant politician who delights in talking carelessly.
Shell returning to Warri is not tea party, not wishful thinking, 'not PDP share the money'. There are fundamental issues to be addressed. Vincent Oyibode should stop talking what he lacks knowledge about.
Federal government should beg Shell to convert the Warri main office to a 'Shell Technology Centre' just like what they have in Houston, Texas and other places. No one should expect Shell to return and beg Seplat, ND Western, Neconde and others to negotiate buying back what they have sold. Shell has moved ahead.
It is also disappointing that a reputable newspaper like Vanguard joined in giving prominence to such a frivolous propaganda in a report anchored by a supposed senior journalist, Emma Amaize who should know the issues well enough to separate facts from frivolous propaganda.
Very shameful that Vanguard Newspaper promoted a redundant, uninformed commissioner on such a sensitive matter, all based on speculations, without hearing from Shell.
Zik Gbemre
October 24, 2023
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes