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By Amos Odeh, Yenagoa
Koluama Clan of Southern Ijaw council area of Bayelsa State has poured encomiums on the chairman of the state Internal Revenue Board (BIR), Dr Nimibofa Ayawei, over his support towards the development of the area.
Chairman of Koluama 2’s Community Development Committee (CDC), Mr Etuatimi Digba, during an assessment of the developmental impact of the government and multinationals operating in the area, noted that the clan rated high the state’s revenue chief, adding that before and after his appointment the communities “had been feeling his developmental impact in several respects.”
Digba who decried the spate of environmental degradation, lambasted the multinationals operating in the area, alleging that over the years, the oil companies have relegated the community to the background.
He noted that but for the neglect of the community by the duo of government and the multinationals, the entire clan which he alleged plays host to no fewer than five oil companies operating offshore would have been a paradise of a sort.
“Most of the infrastructure projects you see in our communities today we’re self-help projects carried out through the support of Dr. Nimibofa Ayawei.
“There are about five oil companies operating in our communities, but we’re not really feeling their impact. We don’t even have GSM masts for communication, except one built by Glo which is even epileptic. And this was built by Conoil, one of the multinationals operating here after concerted efforts by the community.
“Koluama clan has not benefitted from these companies, but worst of all is that the government too seems to have abandoned us. See our geographic location as a community, we’re in the ocean, but blessed with both human and abundant aquatic and other natural resources.
“The government and the oil companies should know that we’re a clan with several communities and like every host community we deserve to be accorded our rightful place in the comity of oil and gas host communities.
“But maybe this neglect was because we’re too peaceful a community. Go to some host communities that don’t have even as many as oil companies and natural resources in their land like ours and you’ll see what’s happening there.
“But for our sons and daughters, especially our brother, Dr. Nimibofa Ayawei, whom God has been using to support us as a community even the little development you see here, would not have been here, it would’ve been worst”, he said.
