Rivers: Elem-Kalabari Women Protest Over OML18 Surveillance Contracts

Hundreds of women from Elem-Kalabari in the Degema local government area of Rivers State, on Monday, staged a peaceful protest to reject what they described as gross marginalisation and injustice meted out to them by NNPC Eighteen Limited, operators of the OML 18 oilfields in the Cawthorne Channel.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Amanyanabo of the Source (Elem Kalabari), Christopher Braide, said the women defied a morning downpour and stormed the Cawthorne Channel 2 Jetty, bearing placards with various inscriptions.

Some of the placards read: “We Carry the Burden, They Take the Benefits”

“Our Sacrifice, Their Gain: When Will Elem-Kalabari See Justice?”

“Local Content Law Violated: Kalabari Demands First Right of Refusal”

“Kalabari to President Tinubu: Reverse the Manton Contract Award”

“NNPC Eighteen, “Why Exclude Qualified Kalabari Contractors?”

The protesters called for an end to what they described as the continued marginalisation of the Kalabari people by the government and multinational companies operating in their territory.

They demanded the immediate revocation of the OML 18 pipeline security contract recently awarded to Manton Engineering Limited, describing the action as unfortunate, demeaning, and provocative.

The women said the recent award of the OML 18 security and surveillance contract to Manton Engineering Limited by NNPC Eighteen Limited represents yet another chapter in a long history of betrayal—one oil-producing communities know too well.

Citing Section 257(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act, which places responsibility for sabotage within host communities on those same communities, the protesting women questioned how a people could be punished for insecurity while being denied the right to provide security in their own territory. This contradiction, they argued, is not only unlawful but morally indefensible.

They insisted that the Local Content Law, which grants host communities the right of first refusal, was completely ignored in the award of the security contract.

Women Leader of Elem Kalabari, Dr Mrs. Vivian Harry-Elenwo, who spoke on behalf of the women, stated that Kalabari has eminently qualified contractors capable of executing such jobs, yet the contract was awarded to individuals neither from Kalabari nor from Rivers State.

Harry-Elenwo, who maintained that the exclusion of Elem-Kalabari was not an oversight but a pattern, stated that the exclusion extended beyond security contracts.