Edo State Deputy Governor, Rt.Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu has played host to some aggrieved members of the Niger Delta Students Union, NIDSU, at the Government House, Benin City.
The students’ visit to the Deputy Governor is part of deliberate efforts at resolving lingering issues between them and the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, over the alleged marginalization of corporate social responsibilities, CSR.
In his remarks, the Deputy Governor appreciated the student body for calling off the protest, earlier scheduled for Thursday, 22nd December 2022 thereby, averting the disruption of socio-economic and official activities in some areas, which could have caused motorists and travelers stranded, due to the resultant gridlock.
Sharing his experiences, Shaibu said: “as a National Association of Nigeria Students, NANS President, we’ve had so many experiences on how issues like these are handled. We had to invent the three keys to conflict resolution which are; consultation, consolidation, and confrontation”.
“You must always learn to come with an open mind in any conflict resolution or discussion and not with a mindset already made up. This is the only way you can be victorious in any battle”.
“Your welfare is paramount to these corporate organizations to take into consideration but I want to assure you that we will do our best to call them to order and have an understanding of how the issues between the students union and the NPDC should be handled”, Shaibu added.
The Deputy Governor, however, extended his profound appreciation to the Commissioner of Police and Deputy Commissioner of Police, Edo State Command for the roles they played in ensuring the peaceful handling of the issues at stake.
Earlier, the Niger Delta Students Union President, Emieye Romeo, noted that the protest became necessary after the refusal of NPDC to fulfill its part of an agreement reached after several confrontations and agreements reached.
According to him, “the multinational oil companies operating in Niger Delta region have been denying the host communities of their corporate social responsibilities and whenever they are approached for dialogue, the oil companies refused to grant us an audience”.
“We are being denied our corporate social responsibilities by the multinational oil companies operating in Niger Delta Region. Whenever we approach the oil companies for dialogue, they refuse to grant us the audience”.
“We have decided to call off the protest because of the way and manner the Edo State Deputy Governor spoke to us during an all-night meeting and this morning again. We have expressed our displeasure to all multinational oil companies operating in Niger Delta that our demands must be met.
These demands include; the settlement of Miss Juliana Martins, a 400 Level Mass Communication Student who was shot in a peaceful protest on 28th, October 2021; training and empowerment of some undergraduate students to understand the petroleum act; release of the union buses earlier approved.
Other demands include payment and compensation to some injured peaceful protesters of 28th October 2021 as well as retract and stop publications of fake scholarship schemes and awards”, Comrade Romeo added.
Photos: Robert Ojele