•Spokesman: They should be patient, we’ll pay soon
Aggrieved contractors and Conoil Producing in Koluama community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State are in a row over unpaid N400 million debt.
The contractors have threatened to shut down operations, if the firm failed to pay them.
The indigenous contractors, under the aegis of Conoil Ango Field Marine Spread Contractors, said the company had not paid them for about 10 months for the barges and tugboats they hired.
The contractors, in a petition sent to the management of Conoil, said despite waiting from December 2016 to September 2017, the company is yet to pay them for their services and equipment.
Those who signed the petition are Chief Amadein Moses; Belief Leghemo; Mathias Sam; Tibiebi Amadein; Lloyd Sese; Christian Omietimi; Amos Imelekedi; Levi Wilson; Francis O. Francis; and Boma Leghemo.
They claimed the debt is causing crisis in the community, adding that they can no longer contain the anger of indigenes.
The petition was also sent to J.T.C. Leghemo, a traditional ruler; chairman of Oil and Gas in Koluama clan; 16 Brigade Commander in Yenagoa, Bayelsa; and the commander Gunboat in Bayelsa.
It said: ’’This is to bring to your notice again that the marine spread payment has taken too long and that we plead with you to please, effect our payment without delay. We have been waiting for almost 10 months.
‘’We, the indigenous marine equipment contractors, have resolved that if we do not receive any reasonable months’ payment this week, we will have no other option but to prevent your flowstation equipment or materials from entering our locality, Koluama, to your site.
‘’This is not a threat but it is a task that must be done, we have run out of patience. If you like, you can kill us with state apparatus, we are ready to die.’’
Speaking on the development, the Contractors’ Coordinator, Chief Amadein Moses, said their patience had been overstretched, urging Conoil to do the needful to prevent problems.
Conoil’s Public Affairs Manager Mr. Richard Edegbeai admitted that the company is owing the contractors.
But he appealed to them to exercise patience, saying the company was making efforts to pay.
He criticised them for going to the media, adding that when they were promptly paid, nobody heard about it.
Edegbeai said: “The ones they have collected before, did they go to the media houses to report that Conoil was paying them promptly? I do not understand them. If you are doing contracts, and for one reason or the other, there is delay in payment, they should understand.
‘’When it was good, nobody heard. They did not go to any place to report. Yes, it is true we are owing them and we are processing the money. A cheque of N200 million was to be given to them last Friday, but somehow, the cheque did not come on time.
‘’Why are they going all over the place, complaining? What about other contractors that we are also owing? There is no country that is not owing. Even America is owing. So, they should be patient.
‘’And because they are a community, they forced these marine spreads contract on us. Some of the barges we are not using, but we pay for them just because we want to upgrade.
‘’So, they should be patient. If they do not want to be patient, they know the best place to go, that is the court. And the moment they go to court, what it means is that they have frustrated the contract. I think patience is the keyword. By the grace of God, they will get their money soon.’’
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