Recently there has been campaigns for relocation of headquarters of ExxonMobil to its area of operations. I have been tagged in various posts and some have come inbox asking me to join the campaign. Despite my reservations I had promised myself that if at least one Eket indigene joins the online campaign I will join. I did not come across such volunteer and decided to hold my peace. I know in situations like this interpretation of interest is a necessity. I will trip on memory lane and give a background for my lack of enthusiasm.
It was 20 years ago and I have just completed my medical education. My friend and classmate Dr Tony Umoh informed me of a locum opening he has been offered which he has declined because he did not want to leave Port Harcourt. He had asked if I was interested and I thought it would be an adventure and decided to go for it. It turned out to that G Cappa had secured contract to construct Mobil housing phase 2b side by side with Daewoo who was constructing the hostel and helipad. The contract had specified for a site clinic doctor with a retaining clinic in town.
I had left Port Harcourt for Eket in high spirits. The events that were to unfold left a bitter pill in my mouth and stomach. I soon discovered that while non indigenes of Akwa Ibom State enjoyed freedom and peace of mind, I was daily being subjected to various scrutiny and harassments. Through out the nine months I stayed in the company, I never knew peace. I eventually left the company to consolidate on my future. A nurse, a Deltan was posted from Warri. I constantly made enquiries and she was never harassed or intimidated or being constantly reminded that she is not from the core community.
This experience is not isolated. Many people I have come across have shared the same sentiment. They have narrated how in the face of competing alternatives, labour committees have favored non indigenes at the expense of Akwa Ibomites from outside the core communities.
As young as I was, I had observed grave danger on that chosen path because I knew that only four poorly developed local governments in the oil production catchment area will not be able to contend with the rest of the country alone. My fear was based on experience as a well travelled Nigerian. The level of thinking that drove the quest for relevance in the oil business was well below par. To start with no indigene of the oil producing area was in any key decision making position in the company and recruitment of core personnel took place in the headquarters in Lagos, a procedure nobody viewed as a disadvantage.
In the resultant event of being shoved out of the relevant level of decision making in the company, the communities were satisfied with crumbs called slots (temporary job placements).
In the situation narrated above, the issue of relocation of it headquarters to the oil production area was unthinkable. In fact it was never thought of. Even today given my knowledge of the mechanism of operation of the Nigerian state and the observation of the body language of mobile oil can say that the day mobil agrees to relocate one can assume that the wells are dry.
Another issue that is yet to be defined and agreed on and which the oil giant know is critical and will whip up when things become critical is where to relocate to. I envisage a hot debate and tussle as regards relocation to the area of operations or to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital. The company may cash in on the inability to resolve the issue peacefully and with dispatch to remain where they are. Far away from scrutiny and far away from the environmental decay and hazards we go through here.
Another issue that will crop up is the issue of xenophobia and insecurity. While it is incontrovertible that Akwa Ibom State is the safest oil producing state in the Niger Delta, ExxonMobil has taken advantage of agitation for further and better inclusion in the decision making of the company and more take in the benefit derivable advice their staff to relocate to Uyo. In fact at least 10 buses ferry mobil staff to and from mobil terminal. As a healthpreneur I calculate the loss of income suffered by Eket business community. I weep at the hemorrhage Eket suffers in terms of infrastructural and human capital development. Nobody thinks of it, nobody cares.
However, legend has it that in those when Eket was more developed than Uyo and drew migrants it was common to hear immigrants being if fire burnt their village or whether their village were overtaken by bees. Since this question were asked in the local dialect, it is safe to assume that such xenophobic attacks and ridicule were aimed at fellow Akwa Inbomites. This reference is not intended portray any party in a negative manner but to highlight a collective character flaw that counted negatively against effective capacity building, a failure to rally human intellectual potential from within the state to be able to articulate a bargaining point. There is widespread reference to the memorandum of understanding MOU. Without even seeing it I can hazard a guess that it was written to favour the oil giant.
This brings to the fore that the under development of Eket federal constituency as an oil producing area is first an issue of the mindset complicated by poor leadership. The followership have little or no choice than to take things as they come. It is on record that Eket federal constituency cannot compare or compete or compare with Port Harcourt or Warri. Apart from the fact that the oil company operating in those areas are more humane on one side and the people in those areas more united and coordinated in their demands, demands for better inclusion have been marred by betrayal and sabotage. There are rumours of reasonable development efforts being exchanged for paltry sums. The fact that ExxonMobil could not construct the road leading to their business premises in Ibeno says a lot about the colour of interest they have for their host community.
Divinely blessed by mobil operations are largely offshore, the company keeps its operations undercover. There are persons who are said to fly in, accomplish tasks for many years without setting foot in Eket. It took the remodeling project being carried by the Udom Emmanuel government to expose the level of decay in the sanitary condition in the very heart of Eket. It also brings to limelight the fact that despite the billions made by ExxonMobil it has never developed nor implemented a masterplan to make Eket a modern city or anything close to it.. The failure of the town planners to draw a proper layout has counted seriously against Eket even before the mass exodus from Eket to Uyo which has been developed through the alternative pathway.
It is also on record that programmes, projects and initiatives which succeed elsewhere fails in Eket for obvious and not very obvious reasons. For example, the Eket section of the East West road has deviated acutely from specifications and ultimately abandoned. The list can go on. In extreme desperation spiritual factors have been adduced. Nothing in that realm can be ascertained but it can be deduced by all well thinking and well meaning citizens that Eket federal constituency with the blessing of the black gold could have fared better, achieved more and it's people better empowered.
Can or will the campaign succeed. Yes it can and will. The first call that IOCs should relocate to their areas of operations was recently made by vice president Prof Osinbajo SAN during a tour of the Niger Delta. This issue has also served as campaign rallying point of past and present governor within the federal constituency. I anchor my confidence on the fact that the governor is well exposed with an amplified world view and therefore capable of comprehending the limitless advantages and opportunities inherent in such relocation, he is from Eket federal constituency which means he has more than a passing interest in the matter.
In fact he may have been part of such agitation in the past as an eminent person from the area, the optimal interest in community improvement and development propelled by the political climate where consensus building is easier to achieve, the advancement in reasoning and the preparedness of the populace to embrace far reaching improvement in environment. All these will conspire to force the oil giant to bend or make meaningful adjustments.
Are the people ready for the relocation. I will say yes. The reasoning of 2017 is not the reasoning of 1998. I know the street is ready but I cannot say much about the elite whose interest is modified by what contract or patronage they get in the course of the relocation or whether their interest is better served by mobil remaining in Lagos and sneaking in and out of Eket.
The strongest weapon in a time like this is unity of purpose. The time worn tactic of divide and rule must be watched out for and circumvented.
It is achievable. God's time is never late.
©David Udo
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