Multinationals should stop playing double standard – Ekiyor

NATIONAL President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Dr. Chris Ekiyor has called on the multinational oil companies to stop playing double standards with oil communities in the Niger-Delta.

Speaking at the “Niger-Delta Peace Consolidation Conference”, organized by the Hope for Niger-Delta Campaign (HNDC), holding in The Hague , Dr. Ekiyor said the multinationals were compromising international standards, which they dare not do in their countries in the Niger-Delta.

He said it was wrong for the oil firms to engage in such practices but because the Nigerian system was not organized, they go ahead with their underhand tactics and cart the funds home.

“They know the way they are treating the oil communities is bad but because our government is encouraging and conniving with them, they don’t mind”, he said.

He called on the international community to mount pressure on the multinationals to do the right thing, saying, “We all know that they know it’s not good for the government in Nigeria not to have functional refineries for the 50 years of their operation in the Niger-Delta but because it satisfies their economic goal, they allow it”.

“Here in Netherlands , the oil companies don’t flare gas but they flare gas in Nigeria because our law is not strong enough to hold them”, he added.