WARRI —  Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has directed Chevron Nigeria Limited, CNL, and the Itsekiri  Regional Development Council, IRDC, to henceforth recognise Aja-Omaetan community as separate and impacted in the Dibi Field operation area.
He further directed the IRDC to recognise the community as a separate impacted community  in Dibi Field within the meaning of the extant Global Memorandum of Understanding, GMoU, model of community engagement with Chevron.

This directive is contained in a letter dated August 5, 2010 to the Chairman of the IRDC, Mr. Mofe Pirah  by the Special Adviser on Oil and Gas, Mr  David  Ekereokosu.

The Governor said it was  incontrovertible that Aja-Omaetan was given autonomy as a separate community in 1991,  re-affirmed in 2009 by the respective executives of the Elders Council of  Tisun community.

Adding  “as it stands, Aja_Omaetan should be allowed to run their internal affairs without  interference from Tisun or any other community.”

According to the state government, the ancestral ties binding the two communities together  should be respected, while the people should see themselves as brothers, sisters and kindred as the separation was only for administrative convenience and a creative innovation for expansion and growth for the ultimate good of the descendants of Tisun community,  whether in Tisun or Aja-Omaetan

The government charged the leadership of both communities to make frantic effort to towards an out of court settlement of the pending case.