Community youths shut down Port Harcourt refinery over employment 

Mkpoikana Udoma

Port Harcourt — Youths of Alesa and Alode communities in  Eleme, host to the Port Harcourt Refining Company, on Tuesday occupied the main entrance of the refinery complex, shutting down activities at the refinery in demand for employment at the ongoing rehabilitation of the refinery.

The youths, numbering over a hundred, braved the rains to barricade the main gate of the refinery complex, with placards bearing different inscriptions, such as “PHRC where did you keep our slots”, “PHRC obey Nigerian Content Act” among others.

Singing and dancing peacefully to the tunes of a performing band, the youths demanded to speak with the management of the Port Harcourt refinery, however, they were only attended to by the head of the security personnel at the gate, who promised to contact the chief executive of the company.

The leader of the protest identified as Hon. Johnson Nwogu, said the community was shocked that an employment of 165 people was carried out by the management of the refinery but only 13 chances were given to the whole of Eleme and less than five to Alesa, the host community.

Nwogu said they would remain at the gate until they received a reasonable response from the management of the refinery.
Similarly, Engr. Eric Chujor, President of the Eleme Graduates Forum, raised the alarm over the blatant disregard for the Nigeria Content Act by multinational companies operating in Eleme, Rivers State.

Chujor said despite the Act’s provisions, Eleme graduates were being marginalized, with limited employment and contract opportunities.

He lamented the injustice, citing the peaceful protest at Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited as a cry for help, and demanded a fair representation and an end to the violation of the Nigeria Content Act.

“It saddens me to imagine how we are marginalized by multinationals, IOCs, and indigenous companies doing business within the confines of Eleme land. Our employment quota and contract chances have been compromised for far too long as against the Nigeria Content Act.

“The behaviour of those managing these firms and our representatives in the over 300 companies doing business in Eleme has impoverished our people. Hence, we must rise to the task of fighting against the injustice meted out to us by these groups of people,” Chujor said.

He continued: “It is heart-wrenching to see that the unemployment rate is on the rise in Eleme, whereas we have people coming into our space to earn massive profits every day. Contract opportunities now belong to a few individuals from the community as against running an open-door policy to all qualified contractors.

“Moreover, Eleme has qualified graduates and professionals who can fill various positions, including managerial roles within these companies, but they tend to look down on our people because our representatives in these firms have failed to project and protect Eleme’s indigenous workers before the top echelon of these companies.

“To prevent these unwanted developments, I request the support of Eleme stakeholders and meaningful people of the soil to rise and put a stop to these menaces for the future growth and development of Eleme land.

“For how long should we remain in silence, fold our hands, and watch all these levels of injustice unleashed on our people? They sack our youths but retain strangers, employ the strangers as direct staff, but our people as support staff, etc.

Take, for instance, Tecnimont has less than six Eleme graduates as their direct staff as against the hundreds of staff engaged. This is a violation of the Nigeria Local Content Act.”

The old Port Harcourt refinery otherwise called Area Five has just undergone a turnaround maintenance to prepare it for resumption of production, while the rehabilitation of the new refinery is underway.

Nigerians have been waiting for the refineries to return to production to ease the supply of petrol in Nigeria and reduce the price, as the country currently imports all the refined petrol it needs despite being a major producer of crude oil in the last six decades.