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A youth leader in Ugborodo Community, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, Mr. Ajamubaghan Samuel, has lamented the dearth of monitoring that leads to sub-standard projects and misappropriation of loans.
Ajamubaghan, a businessman who served as secretary of Ijaghala community in Ugborodo between 1999 and 2003, said it was bad for the government and oil companies to issue loans to persons without monitoring to ensure that beneficiaries strictly keep to the terms of applying such loans to what they were meant for.
“How can they disburse huge amounts of money to people who put up fictitious claims,?” he queried. He explained further: “These people live in the cities and because they have access to government and the oil companies, they know how and when to apply for these monies which are meant for the empowerment of the poor in the villages. They collect the money and squander it in the city. The oil companies and government should have a way of monitoring to ensure that the projects they claim to collect monies for are being executed.”
Using the Ugborodo community as an example, Ajamubaghan said the suffering of the people in riverine communities of Delta State was becoming unbearable. “Chevron built a large clinic for us, but it was burnt down during the crisis. Now the company has provided a floating clinic which goes round the communities once every week. You can imagine what happens when there is a serious health issue before the floating clinic makes its round,” he said.
He also blamed the present crop of community leaders in Ugborodo who have departed from the norm of seeking employment and empowerment opportunities from oil companies.
“What the communities do these days is that they seek contract for themselves. Instead of being mindful of the good of the larger community, they are busy lining their pockets,” he lamented.
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