29 September 2011, Sweetcrude, Benin – Communities in the oil and gas producing areas of Edo state have been urged to support the Edo state Oil and Gas Producing Areas Development Commission (EDOSOGPADEC) to enable it meet its development objectives in the communities.
Chairman of EDOSOGPADEC, Mr. Vincent Uwadiae, made the call at a stakeholders meeting of oil and gas producing communities in Ologbo, Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of the state.
Uwadiae said no meaningful development could be achieved in an atmosphere of lawlessness and added that the commission had the obligation to improve on the living conditions of the people through the development policies of the state government.
The EDOSOGAPADEC boss said the state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, was committed to bringing development to every nook and crannies of the state, particularly in the coastal communities.
According to him, one way to break away from youth restiveness in the oil and gas producing communities is for all stakeholders to continue to support the commission.
“We have met with these communities and we have been able to know their priorities and what is left is for us now to go back and articulate their needs so that whatever we can do using scale of preference, we will be able to provide it for them”, Uwadiae further said.
Speaking, a member representing Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area in the commission, Mr Victor Ekhator, said the stakeholders meeting was informed by the need for the indigenes to express their opinions on development issues confronting the area and proffer solution.
Earlier, the General Secretary of Ologbo Kingdom and spokesman of the community, Mr. Friday Osazuwa, solicited the assistance of the commission in the areas of youth employment, infrastructure development, completion of the Ologbo-Ajoki road and the use of local contractors resident in the communities for the execution of projects.
Present at the meeting were other members of the commission who included Mr. Fred Ijiekhuameh, Mr. Lukman Mohammed, Prince Erediauwa and the commission’s Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Betty Igbeyi.
