By Ochuko Akuopha

OLEH—THE people of Uzere, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, have decried the spate of projects abandonment in the community by the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, and the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

Speaking with newsmen, President General of the community, Mr. Columbus Oguname, lamented that Uzere, as the second community where oil was discovered in Nigeria, was being neglected by the federal and the state governments.

Arguing that the interventionist agencies were set up for the development of oil producing communities, he alleged that the projects being executed in the community by the commissions were awarded in such a way that they could not be completed.

According to him, “We have pockets of projects from NDDC and DESOPADEC and they are all done in such a way that they cannot be completed. It is either the government will not mobilize or they will mobilize in such a way that the projects cannot be completed. I can as well, say that we have not benefited from NDDC and DESOPADEC because there is no project that is completed. We are not feeling the impact of DESOPADEC and NDDC in this community.”

“There is no visible and tangible government presence in the community. At peak, we produce 56, 000 of crude for the federal government of Nigeria. The oil money is being used to develop other parts of the country but here in Uzere, the people are poor, the normal social basic amenities are not here, there is nothing to show that there is government presence here and it is very painful.”