5 members of the Compliance Monitoring and Sensitization Implementation Progress Crew have reportedly been held hostage for over two hours by high administration employees of Sterling Exploration and Power Petroleum Firm (SEEPCO) of their Kwale workplace, Ndokwa West council of Delta State.
The Guardian learnt that the monitoring workforce, accountable for the implementation of the Host Neighborhood Improvement as enshrined in Part 234 of the Petroleum Trade Act (PIA) of 2021, had been detained by troopers on the orders of a international nationwide and high administration employees of SEEPCO whereas they had been on official duties on the firm on Wednesday, seventeenth January 2025.
The Guardian couldn’t instantly verify the explanation(s) that prompted the international nationwide’s actions, however it was reliably gathered that as quickly because the monitoring workforce arrived on the premises of the oil firm, they had been acquired by the bottom supervisor of SEEPCO, Mr. Simon Ok. John, and the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Emmanuel Ajang, and the sensitisation dialog commenced.
Confirming the event, the chief of the compliance monitoring workforce, George Bucknor, an engineer, mentioned he launched the members of the workforce and knowledgeable the employees of the corporate that the go to was to sensitise them on the provisions of the PIA Act, with emphasis on the strict implementation of the Nigerian content material as supplied for within the Act.
Bucknor defined that his firm, Mecco and Marine Holdings Ltd., was appointed as a marketing consultant by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Fee (NUPRC) to make sure strict compliance with the provisions of the PIA Act.
He additionally said that the essence of the go to was to familiarize and sensitize important stakeholders, notably operators within the business, on the significance of doing the needful, however that the train was to not witch-hunt any firm. As a substitute, it aimed to assist promote a extra cordial enterprise atmosphere between the operators and their host communities.
The monitoring workforce chief additional said that their mission was to collate actionable intelligence on the host communities’ actions pertaining to the mandate of the PIA, including that the target was to make sure that host communities loved their direct social and financial advantages from petroleum operations.
Nonetheless, halfway into the assembly, a high administration workforce and expatriate reportedly walked into the venue and ordered the workforce members to close down their video recording and instructed troopers on guard obligation to interrogate and detain the monitoring workforce members.
Bucknor defined additional that he was embarrassed and humiliated by the motion of the expatriate and rapidly known as the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Fee headquarters in Abuja, the place a senior member of the fee confirmed that the monitoring workforce was on official obligation on the occasion of the fee.
However the name didn’t assuage the place of the highest officer of SEEPCO, who as a substitute ordered the troopers to interrogate and escort members of the workforce out of the corporate’s premises after hours of “unlawful detention,” he alleged.
In the meantime, The Guardian has been knowledgeable that an official report on the incident has been formally offered to the headquarters of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Fee for additional motion.
Efforts to achieve the SEEPCO official, Mr. Devender Kumar, an Indian, didn’t yield outcomes as calls positioned to him went unanswered.
