By Odo Ogenyi, Uyo
Militant groups under the aegis of Niger Delta Volunteers has expressed disappointment over the donation of sanitary pads to female students in Akwa Ibom by an oil firm, Oriental Energy Resources Limited.
The indigenous oil exploration firm had last week donated over 1,000 bags of sanitary pads to teenage girls in two secondary schools in the state to commemorate this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day.
But a statement yesterday signed by Major-General Henry Etete for Niger Delta Volunteers, Major-General Inibeghe Adams for Niger Delta Republic Fighters and Major-General Ekpenyong Akan for Niger Delta Watchdogs, they said it was shameful and demeaning for the oil firm to issue out ‘mere’ sanitary pads in the guise of carrying out it’s corporate social responsibility.
According to the statement, “this is totally acceptable and we view it as an insult on the collective intelligence of our people. How can they even plan to buy sanitary pads to schools in Akwa Ibom State?
“This totally unacceptable for an exploration company which has been drilling and polluting our environment over the years without any meaningful projects to host communities.” The statement said.
They querried the the oil firm’s implementation of the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding signed with host communities and threatened
to “deal” with them at the appriopriate time.
“What happened to the yearly scholarships from pre-primary school to tertiary institution contained in the Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the host communities?
“We call on the management of Oriental Energy Resources Ltd to do the needful by implementing the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the host communities or prepare to face our actions at the appropriate time.” It concluded.
