2019: I WILL PURSUE LAWS THAT WILL PROTECT HOST COMMUNITIES -UDUAGHAN ASSURES

Dr Uduaghan & Host COM members

By Monoyo Edon

The immediate past Governor of Delta State Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan has promised to pursue a robust inclusion of Host Communities in the Oil and Gas industry when he gets the blessing of Delta South people to represent them at the Senate in 2019.

Dr. Uduaghan frowned at what he described as “the shortchange of host communities in the dividends from the Oil and Gas industry.” A situation he attributed to the delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) into law.

“Our communities deserve to have investments in the IOCs as is obtainable in UAE and other Asian countries where host communities are key players in the Oil and Gas industry. Once host communities are effectively carried along, lasting peace and security would be easy to achieve.”

These were Dr. Uduaghan’s words when he played host to the Itsekiri Chapter of Host Communities of Nigeria (Producing Oil and Gas) at his Warri residence earlier today.

The group which was led by their Chapter Chairman, Chief Justice Memeh explained that the aim of their visit was to greet their foremost patron and support his ambition to run for Senate. The eloquent Chief seized the opportunity to apologize to His Excellency on behalf of the Group for not visiting or conferring with him as one of the founders and patron of HostCom, since he left office as two-term Governor of Delta State. He posited that it would amount to wickedness trying to discountenance the huge role Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan played towards catering to the special needs of Host Communities in Delta state in his previous posts as SSG (when DESOPADEC was formed) and Governor (when the largest fund, till date was committed to the commission for development of host communities).

In separate comments by members of the group, HostCom, Itsekiri Chapter promised to do their bit towards canvassing support for his senatorial ambition; stating unequivocally that he is by miles the best among all the candidates vying for the Senatorial seat.

“It is time to put politics aside in the interest of Delta South and rally around Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan -someone with brains, foresight and on top of those fine qualities, he is a true veteran of progressive politics. We are proud to have him from our area” the Chapter Chairman added.