The Coalition of the Concerned Nzema People has vowed to use every means within their power to resist being shortchanged in the Petroleum Hub Project.
The Corporate Communication Officer, Martin Fifi Milson said they suspect a grand scheme to take the Nzema land into broad-day slavery.
In an interview on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem Tuesday, Mr Milson vowed that they would not in any way allow that.
This comment follows a protest on Monday over the acquisition of 20,000 acres of land by the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation for the project.
Despite the group’s concerns, President Akufo-Addo on August 20, 2024, performed a sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of the first phase of the project at Nawule in the Jomoro District in the Western Region.
The three independent phases of the project, estimated at $12 billion, are to ensure value addition to the country’s oil and gas resource to create a modern, diversified and financially sustainable energy economy for the country.
They are a 300,000 barrels per day (bpsd) refinery, a petrochemical plant, and extensive storage and port facilities.
The project is also expected to lead to the establishment of the Jomoro Petroleum Hub Development Corporation (JPHDC), with its headquarters in Jomoro.
However, Martin said various petition to the Presidency and the Western Nzema Traditional Council has not yielded any desired response and they will not back down on their quest to pursue the interest of indigenes.
According to him, they will not hesitate to resort to legal measures if their grievances continue to be ignored by the government.
Mr. Martin has said the Coalition in the coming days will announce their next line of action.
He added that, they will not be bothered if government and investors decide to relocate the project over their agitations.
“We are not against the project but if it is in the bosom of the government and investors that they can’t use the 7,000 acres of land they are proposing, and can get 20,000 acres of land elsewhere, we have no problem. It is their money.
The prospecting and whatever is related to oil and gas will come to Jomoro. It is possible it will not be under this government but it will surely come,” he noted.
Source: Gertrude Otchere
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