Ijaw Oil Producing and Pipeline Communities in Warri and Environs, IOPPCWE, Delta State, has threatened to destroy crude supply at Warri Refinery if sacked kinsmen are not recalled and if more Ijaws are not recruited.
In a statement by its coordinator, Mr. Anthony Zikorebai, the group said “We wish to warn that if Ijaw people who were sacked like other neighbouring communities’ workers are not recalled and employed in the ongoing recruitment of new workers, crude oil produced in Ijaw communities would no longer be allowed to be piped to the Warri Refinery.
“The Ijaw Oil Producing and Pipeline Communities in Warri and Environs are calling on the management of WRPC, especially the acting Managing Director of the WRPC, Mr. Adewale Solomon, to stop the discrimination and marginalization of Ijaw people in respect of retrenchment and recruitment of staff and contract opportunities.
“People of Ijaw origin were deliberately and unfairly sacked in the last retrenchment and omitted in the recall of some sacked staff and new recruitment that is ongoing despite the fact that the Ijaw communities are substantial stakeholders in the affairs of the Warri Refinery.
“The Warri Refinery survives on the crude oil produce in some Ijaw communities and piped again through Ijaw communities to the Warri Refinery for its refining and other purposes. Hence, it is unfair and discriminatory for the management of Warri Refinery to subject Ijaw people to unfair treatment.”