More than 100 oil-producing communities from six Niger Delta states staged a major protest in Port Harcourt on Thursday, demanding the payment of approximately 87 billion naira in alleged outstanding ground rent. The demonstrators, representing families and communities from Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Imo, Akwa Ibom, and Abia states, stormed the gate of Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited to press their demands.
The protesters stated that the disputed sum covers ground rent owed by the former Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), now operating as Renaissance Africa Energy, for the period between 2014 and 2023. Beyond the arrears, the communities are calling for the harmonization of payments, arguing that current rates vary unfairly between different oil-bearing areas. They are specifically demanding a uniform rate of 600,000 naira per hectare.
Chief Ayiba Job, a representative of the Azagbene Community in Bayelsa State, accused the company of ignoring community demands despite a Senate resolution passed in March 2019 that called for the uniform payment rate. Job highlighted the disparity in payments, noting that his community received 200,000 naira per hectare, while communities such as Bonny in Rivers State and Focados in Delta State received 600,000 naira per hectare. He argued that this differential treatment was unjust, particularly given that his community is actively producing oil.
“They pay our community, particularly my community, Azagbene, they pay us N200,000 per hectare and Bonny (Rivers State), Focados (Delta State), Shell Residential Area (Rivers State) N600,000 per hectare. So, how could that be? It’s not proper,” Chief Ayiba Job said.
Job explained that the ground rent obligation applies specifically to communities whose lands were acquired between 1970 and 1978. He noted that while SPDC paid 40,000 naira per hectare in 2009, the rate was reviewed in 2014, leading to the current disagreements. Although the company later challenged the Senate resolution in the Federal High Court in Abuja, Job stated that the case was struck out. The protesters are now calling on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and direct Renaissance Africa Energy to comply with the Senate’s directives.
In response, Igo Weli, Vice President for Relations and Sustainable Development at Renaissance Africa Energy, addressed the protesters on behalf of the company. Weli stated that relevant government agencies were already handling the matter and urged the public to allow authorities to resolve the issue in accordance with the Constitution and existing joint venture agreements. He asserted that the company has documentation proving it fulfilled its agreed obligations to the landowners from whom it acquired land.
“We know our landlords, the people who we took land from. We have documents from those who we got land from. We have paid them what we agreed, and they signed off our documents. So, we are not losing sleep over this because we are in good terms with our landlords,” Weli said.
Weli added that the company follows standard procedures by renegotiating leases with landlords whenever existing agreements expire. The protest, which featured placards demanding compliance with federal ministry directives and Senate resolutions, highlights ongoing tensions regarding resource rights and compensation in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region.
<small>Source: Daily Post Nigeria — read the original story there.</small>
