MTN World Golf Championship action moves to Benin this weekend as the newly refurbished golf course in the ancient city play host to the South-South regional qualifiers, where over 200 amateur golfers are expected to vie for honours.

At a Stakeholders’ Forum, July 20, organized by the Delta State Government in Asaba to sensitize the people on the National Gas Master Plan, the participants and representatives of host communities were agitated by the issue of ownership and what the host communities and indigenes stand to gain by allowing the Federal Government and multinational companies to exploit gas in the state.

President of the group, Dr. Ebipamone Nanakumo, who spoke to Vanguard from his United States base, accused the Federal Government of further aggravating tension in the troubled region and called for the immediate reversal of the said obnoxious and unacceptable policies and plans of the Nigerian government.

They claimed that “new oil and gas companies, like Mid Western Oil and Gas, Platform Petroleum, Pillar Oil, Energia-UPDC, Sterling Global, Chorus Energy and a host of others have discovered huge deposit of Non-Associated Gas (NAG) in the upland areas of Ndokwa and Ukwuani local government areas which can be confirmed with the relevant authorities, making Ndokwa/Ukwuani the rightful hub for the central processing facility (CPF).”

The groups also faulted the downgrading of the old Petroleum Training Institute, in Delta State in favour of Kaduna Petroleum College, adding that “the Federal Government should as well re-locate oil wells in the region to the North to complete the circle of domination and marginalisation.”