Delta community kicks against Chevron employment policy

The people of Omadino community in Warri South, Warri South-West, and Warri North local government areas of Delta State have kicked against the ongoing employment policy of oil firm Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), stating that it is not in their interest.

The community has sent a letter to President Bola Tinubu, seeking the Federal Government’s intervention.

Copies of the protest letter, dated October 11, 2024, and signed by the Omadino community Chairman and Secretary, Mr. Tuoyo Mogbeyiteren and Mr. Benjamin Akoreh, respectively, were made available to journalists in Warri on Monday.

The community expressed concern that “CNL is presently carrying out an employment exercise under a policy that is inimical to the interests of the Itsekiri nation host communities, especially Omadino.”

They noted that the six oil fields constituting the operational onshore leases of CNL include two (Uton Nana and Makaraba fields) hosted by Omadino community, making it the host of approximately 40 per cent of CNL’s onshore operations.

While alleging marginalisation in the ongoing employment exercise, the community stated that it had previously written a series of letters to Chevron Nigeria Limited without receiving any response.

The petition to President Tinubu added, “Despite being a major stakeholder in the operations of CNL and ensuring an uninterrupted enabling environment for her operations in our land, CNL has repaid our civilised gesture with outright disregard for our welfare and genuine interests in several ways.”

The Omadino community demanded that provisions be made for the Itsekiri, as host communities, in Chevron’s areas of operation regarding employment and the award of contracts.

The protest letter to the President partly reads: “In the area of employment, CNL has relegated our people to the background and continually adopted strategies that allow her to employ people from outside the host communities, including Omadino community.”

The community added that, over the years, Chevron’s management has consistently brought in preferred candidates under the guise of equal opportunity, disregarding qualified individuals within the community. They cited the current recruitment exercise by Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) as following the same exclusionary pattern as previous ones, which prevented local people from participating in economic activities on their land.

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The letter also noted that CNL has refused to award contracts to qualified local contractors, despite their capability to execute contracts for Chevron’s operations, which negatively impacts the quality of life in the community.

The Omadino community urged the President to address their concerns before tensions with CNL escalate into violence.

“We desperately urge you to use your good office to prevail on the management of CNL to meet our firm demand that CNL, as a matter of corporate responsibility, set aside a reasonable percentage of employment opportunities for our people in line with relevant provisions of the Local Content Law.

“It is therefore our demand that provisions be made for the Itsekiri host nation in Chevron’s areas of operations regarding employment and the award of contracts, as enumerated above,” the letter concluded.