Major Oil Companies Not Doing Enough For Host Communities – Obaseki Declares

BEVERLY HILLS, December 02, (THEWILL) – Governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki, has declared that the impact of multinational oil companies operating in the state is not felt lamenting that the multinational companies operating in the state were similarly not making any impact on the economy of the state.

Obaseki made the disclosure while hosting the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (UpStream) when the committee members paid him a courtesy visit on Friday in Benin as he decried the poor attitude of multinational oil companies operating in the state toward the welfare of their host communities.

According to him, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) was the heart of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and was located in the state but insisted that its impact was never felt in the state.

“To us, this is an issue of concern and we want the house and indeed the National Assembly to look into it,” Obaseki said.

“Companies operating in states should be made to contribute and add value to their host states, while federal agencies should be encouraged to do more for the states.”

He told the committee members, led by Senator Omotayo Alasodura, that the most salient issue in the state was the availability of security revealing that there was no record of violence or attacks on oil facilities in the state, a development that should have made the companies to make a positive impact in their host communities.

Responding, Alasodura said that the committee members were in the state for an oversight function on some federal institutions in the state expressing optimism that the governor would build on the legacies of the previous administration.

Story by Oputah David