Mbo Youth Demand Universal Energy's Urgent review of MOU, inauguration of new MIC

By Anietie Esu

More than 1000 aggrieved youth of the host community of Universal Energy Resources, an oil company, defied the heavy downpour on Monday to stage a peaceful protest against what they alleged as the continuous delay by the company to review the expired Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) binding their operations as well as the delay in inauguration of the new members of Memorandum Implementation Committee(MIC).

The protesters, under the aegis of Coalition of Unyenge Community Youth, in Mbo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, grieved that the continuous stay in office of the expired members of the Memorandum Implementation Committee (MIC) has thrown the community into commotion, anarchy and conflict, describing members of the expired Implementation Committee as greedy and ineffective representatives who could not enforce the agreement reached between the company and Unyenge as stipulated in the expired MOU.

The protesters who took the protest from Unyenge junction to fly camp of the company to register their demands, displayed placards with inscriptions like: " We are not against oil production in our land, but marginalisation in any form", Review the expired MOU", "We demands inauguration of new MIC", " Universal stop dealing with only one village head, Unyenge is made up of three gazetted villages and one omitted village", " Each village head should be contacted individually for their nominees", among others.

The National President of Unyenge Youth Progressive Association, Comrade Godwin Tom said the protest was aimed at letting the company know that in matters concerning the community, the company should not deal with the expired members of Memorandum Implementation Committee, but village heads of Unyenge.

Tom said:" We want the review of the expired 5-year tenure MOU that was signed in June 2012.We want the dissolution of the MIC and the inauguration of new one.

It has been observed that the members representing us in MIC are not willing to retire from the appointment given to them by the community even after the expiration of their tenure.

Our grievances is that since the inauguration of the expired members of MIC, we the youth have not achieved anything meaningful.

There is nothing like training. Our youths are hungry.

"So we are calling on the government and the company not to deal with them again except the council of chiefs and the youth body in Unyenge and not a situation where the company would be inviting only a single chief and believing that they have been dealing with Unyenge".

The President threatened that failure of the company to resolve the demands of the community after the seven days ultimatum given to them, the youth would resort to total restiveness.

Also speaking, the former President of Unyenge youth, Comrade Mike Abia decried lack of good road, scholarship, skill acquisition centre and power supply in the area since the production of oil in the area by the company in 2014.

Abia alleged that the company had failed in their promise of paying"sit-at-home", when they start operations.

When contacted, an official of the company, Nkoyo Etuk blamed the delay in reviewing of the MOU and the inauguration of new members of MIC on the community as they were yet to submit the authenticated names of the stakeholders to the company.

She however pleaded with them to go settle their differences and reached common ground so that the company can fulfill its own part accordingly.