BEVERLY HILLS, CA, May 26, (THEWILL) – Hundreds of youths of Ijaw origin have protested the Chevron Ogere Vocational Training Programme (VTP) jobs’ slot allotted to them.
The youths said the training slots given to them are not commensurate to the volume of oil being produced daily from their backyard.
Coming under the auspices of Egbema Gbaramatu Graduates Employment Front, the youths said over the years, the American oil giant has marginalised, deprived and shortchanged their people in the exercise.
In a protest letter signed by Mr. Moses Yabrade and Mr. Asoki Victor, Chairman and Secretary of the group respectively, the youths said they rejected the job slots allotted to them because they are not satisfied with the manner with which Chevron shared the training slots.
The youths said the hardship facing Ijaw communities were caused by oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities of Chevron and Shell.
“Chevron has conducted over five vocational training programmes (VTP) at Ogere and abroad and have trained over 500 personnel for employment with the entire Egbema and Gbaramatu constituting less than 20 persons of the said figure which is less that 0.5 percent on the average, not to mention the fact that only 10 persons from Egbema and Gbaramatu extractions have been employed by Chevron direct job openings over the years.
“It is also on record that we are very much underemployed in labour and casual jobs that do not need any serious qualification, not to mention the fact that we do not have anybody in the managerial level of Chevron system despite the fact that some of our personnel have proven themselves worthy of such position because they pulled the company through and sustained its daily operation during the Warri crisis,” the group said in its protest letter.
Comprising of young graduates , the group querried why Chevron had reneged on all agreements reached in the past.
They demanded that Chevron should address the lopsidedness in the employment of over 500 workers employed to manage the EGTL Plant and other facilities through Ogere and Chevron direct employment.
They want those who qualified for all the VTP exams conducted by Chevron, including those for the 2008 waiting list to be absorbed into the workforce.
They also called on the Delta State Government and Egbema -Gbaranmatu Communities Development Foundation (EGCDF) to prevail on Chevron in regards to the vexing issue.
The group said that if the issues are not addressed on time, it could degenerate and cause a major problem for Chevron, declaring that they were already running out of patience in tolerating the anomaly.
It could be recalled that in 2012, tempers became high over a similar problem where the unemployed graduate youths almost shut down the entire onshore operations of Chevron if not for the quick intervention of the elders, kings, and the Regional Development Committees that prevailed on the youths who cited underemployment as their grievance. Oil companies operating in the Niger Delta often hire foreign expatriates who are paid in dollars for the skilled jobs, leaving the locals who had acquired the skills with the manual/casual jobs.
