Sylvester Idowu in Warri
Members of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) Indigenous Contractors Forum have said there is no amount of threat from the board and management of the interventionist agency that will dissuade them from embarking on planned protest against extreme poor payment of contracts executed and review of contracts in line with current inflationary trend.
The Forum had on Monday scheduled to protest on January 24, 2025 over what the group alleged as high handedness of the board and management of the Commission for refusing to heed several appeals by members to pay for services rendered.
However, some members of the board and management of DESOPADEC were alleged to have resorted to threatening some of the leadership of the Forum as an attempt to abort the protest.
Chairman of DESOPADEC Indigenous Contractors Forum, Engr. Ogie Samson Oritsebemigho, insisted in a statement yesterday that the protest would hold as planned noting that series of meetings were held by the executives of the group before arriving at the decision to protest mismanagement of the challenges facing their members as a result of extreme poor payment of contracts executed and variation of existing contracts because of hike of price of materials used in executing contracts.
In an online discussion as regards steps taken before fixing the announced date for the protest, Ogie Samson said it was either the governor was aware of their predicaments or the management may be the one feeding him with wrong information.
He disclosed that several attempts were made to get the attention of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to their challenges but were thwarted by some of his aides in Asaba.
According to him, two private meetings were held with the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Hon. Johnson Erijo; with the Principal Secretary to the Governor, Mrs. Lyna Ocholor, for about three times and with the Board Chairman, Hon. Chief John Nani uncountable times but did not yield any fruitful outcome.
Ogie disclosed that while the Chief of Staff and Principal Secretary did their best to facilitate meeting with Governor Oborevwori, the Director of Protocol, Okakuro Sunday Onoriode became a stumbling block in accessing the governor.
He noted that the Executive Director Finance and Administration (EDFA) DESOPADEC, Chief Kome Akpobor did not help matters by insisting, many times, that owing the contractors was not a big deal and their demands for payment amounts to “fighting the system”.
The forum chairman urged Governor Oborevwori to investigate and find out if the board and management of DESOPADEC have been paying contractors, particularly their members.
He also urged the governor to investigate whether it is the same benchmark that was used to award jobs before the hike of cost of executing jobs is what is available in this present economy.
Chairman of the forum urged the Governor Oborevwori to urgently intervene and save the situation from degenerating adding, “Our members are not protesting because we want trouble but we are protesting because we understand that money was allocated to DESOPADEC to better the lives of the people in the oil producing areas”.
Secretary of DESOPADEC Indigenous Contractors Forum, Prince Charles Ebigbagha, insisted that members were just protesting unjust treatment of Indigenous contractors by the Board and management of the interventionist agency and not trying to distrupt the system.
“It is within our rights to protest whenever there is need for it. We have been trying peaceful means of engaging the board and management of the DESOPADEC but they turn deaf airs to us.
“Our members took loans to execute projects and the interests are mounting because of the refusal to pay for our services. Many have developed health challenges because of frustration”, he added.
The Financial Secretary of the Forum, Mrs. Patricia Ebikeme said the protest was long overdue but for the persistence of their Chairman, Ogie Samson that had always preached peaceful resolution of their grievances.
“Our chairman has been too patient because everything our chairman has been saying before now is patience. How can we take loan to do jobs that were supposed to be mobilised and yet we are not paid as at when due. We want them to use our money for us now that we are alive.
“We want the intervention of the Federal Government. We want to know if the publications on derivation funds released have never been a manipulated”, she said.
Last modified: January 15, 2025
