A former Commissioner for Special Duties in Delta State, Ovuozourie Macaulay, has called citizens of the Niger Delta to be made part owners of oil companies operating in the region.
Daily Report Nigeria reports that Macaulay made the call while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, stressing the model will help curb the steady rise of illegal oil bunkering in the area.
Macaulay decried that more emphasis should be given to the protection of livelihoods of host communities against the demand for the communities to protect pipelines for the Federal Government.
He stressed that getting locals in pipeline surveillance and protection was not enough to secure their confidence in the system.
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He said;
“People should not be talking about their [indigenes] participation, we should be talking of part ownership. Everybody wants to protect where his daily bread comes from.
“Before 2003, jobs were not given to the communities at all and we sat down as security council and said, ‘No, these people have to be involved.’
“We met with Shell, we met with Chevron and worked out how they can be taken along and that helped to reduce the agitation and solve many issues but thereafter, it ended there,” he said.
Speaking further on the idea of “part ownership” for indigenes of the oil-rich region, Macaulay said, “Five percent or 10 percent interest of the people in that organisation would help them look forward to something at the end of the year”.
Mr Macaulay concluded that if locals were part owners of the companies’ shareholding, incidents of pipeline vandalism and oil theft will be few.
