By Jackson Rivers

For decades, the people of Ugborodo, a coastal host community in Warri Kingdom, have lived side by side with one of Nigeria’s most strategic oil and gas operations.

Their land hosts critical offshore and onshore facilities supporting Chevron Nigeria Limited’s (CNL) operations at Escravos. Yet, in the midst of this enormous contribution to national revenue and corporate profit, Ugborodo remains a community trapped in darkness, unemployment, exclusion, and unfulfilled promises.

Today, that long-suppressed pain has found a voice.

Through its duly inaugurated and recognized leadership, the Ugborodo Community Management Committee (UCMC) has issued a detailed and heartfelt list of demands to Chevron Nigeria Limited, describing years of neglect, non-compliance with agreements, and systemic marginalization of a people who have borne the environmental, social, and economic burdens of oil production without corresponding benefits.

A History of Engagement Without Action, According to UCMC, an inaugural engagement meeting held on 26th August 2025 raised critical concern on mutual expectation and understanding. Months later hopes and expectation seem invisible with no genuine commitment.

This silence, the community says, deepens an already painful history of exclusion.

“We are not asking for charity,” a community leader said. “We are asking for fairness, dignity, and the rights due to us as a host community.”

Excluded from Contract, empowerment and employment on Their Own Land

One of the most painful grievances is the total exclusion of Ugborodo from the ongoing Pitstop Project and Project Bella by managers and senior leadership of chevron, despite these projects operating within their domain. Contractors such as Ponticelli and Digital Energy reportedly commenced activities without engaging UCMC or providing opportunities for Ugborodo indigenes. You will recall the last turn around maintenance executed in the facility completely shut out Ugborodo Indigenes from participating in that activity, as all community contents jobs meant for local community contractors were executed by pseudo companies owned by Chevron managers and their cronies thereby living community indigenes with no choice than global competition in the NUIMS/NAPIMS bidding process.

There has been no transparency on LCC project scope, manpower needs, or community content allocation—leaving local youths unemployed while outsiders take LCC jobs and contracts on Ugborodo soil.

Unemployment Amidst Oil Wealth, Despite repeated discussions on direct employment, Ugborodo says many promised Chevron employment slots remain unresolved. Families continue to wait for clarity on who was selected, who was dropped, and why qualified indigenes remain casual or unconverted workers for years, why the few employed remained casualized.

This situation has worsened poverty and frustration among young people who see wealth extracted daily from their environment but cannot secure decent livelihoods.

Still in Darkness, Perhaps the most heartbreaking irony is that Ugborodo and neighbouring communities remain without stable electricity, even as they host facilities powering industries across Nigeria. The long-promised Escravos Environs Power Supply Project has not delivered light, timelines, or a sustainability plan—leaving residents to rely on generators in a region that fuels the nation.

Broken Community Content Promises, UCMC also accuses Chevron of failing to uphold the agreed 40% community content allocation meant for Ugborodo indigenes as host communities during the EGTL construction phase. Since 2015, the community says it has not seen verifiable records showing fair allocation of contracts, manpower opportunities, marine and other LCC contract services, or equipment engagements.

Worse still, community workers allegedly suffer poor welfare conditions, stagnant wages, and lack of basic entitlements—despite years of service.

Marginalization in Host Community Trusts, Under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), Host Community Development Trusts were created to correct historic injustices. Yet Ugborodo insists it remains under-represented in the Warri Kingdom Coastal Host Community Development Trust, despite its offshore host status and the scale of impact it bears.

The community is demanding a minimum of three equity blocks to reflect fairness, inclusion, and the realities on ground.

A Plea for Peace, Not Conflict Despite the depth of frustration, the UCMC emphasizes that its approach remains peaceful, structured, and dialogue driven. The demands include calls for clear timelines, accountable focal persons, transparent processes, and written commitments.

A Call to Conscience, Ugborodo’s story is not just about oil and contracts—it is about human dignity, about a people asking to be seen, heard, and treated fairly after decades of sacrifice.

As Nigeria debates energy transition, corporate responsibility, and host community relations, Ugborodo’s cry raises a critical question:

Can development truly be called sustainable when host communities remain impoverished, excluded, and unheard?

The people of Ugborodo are still waiting—for light, for jobs, for fairness, and above all, for justice.