By Mokwugwo Solomon
On Saturday, January 17, 2026, indegens of Ogwu Ikpele community in Ogbaru local government area of Anambra state, including elderly women and men, as well as youths, protested round the community, carrying placards and chanting songs of frustration, disappointment and displeasure.
The community complained that for ten years that Sterling Petroleum Energy Exploration Company (SPEECO) operated on their soil, they made several billions of dollars without any form of compensation to the community.
The protesters blocked all oil wells belonging to the oil company in the community, and forced the company workers to stop work pending when the oil firm will fulfill agreement they reached with the community.
Speaking during the protest march, a former member representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Hon. Chuchu Onyema, who led the protesters, said that the people of the town gathered, not only to protest, but also to celebrate in anger, ten years of neglect, lack of basic amenities, and environmental depletion.
He said, “We’ve made efforts to come to real agreement with the company, but for reasons known to them, they decided to despise us. We decided as a community to stop them from further work, so that they would feel obliged to reach concrete agreement with us.
We’re supposed to be receiving three per cent of what is realized from the oil exploration, but we don’t receive anything. No member of this community is employed by the company. Let them prove us wrong. We’re not begging for anything; we want those things that are due for us as host community.”
Also speaking, the Traditional Prime Minister of Ogwu Ikpele community, Chief Akaka Damian Anigboso (Odua-Ukwu of Ogwu Ikpele), lamented bitterly over the suffering of his people, which he said, are too numerous to mention.
According to him, the community is blessed with oil and natural resources in abundance, which have been drilled for ten years, yet, there is nothing to show for it.
He said, “Our oil is being explored and transferred to other states for refining and sales. This is ten good years SPEECO has been operating on our soil, exploring and drilling. All agreement and understanding we reached with the oil company, none have been filled.
“Despite millions of barrels of crude oil explored and shifted everyday from Ogwu Ikpele, our children remans relatively uneducated and unemployed. SPEECO promised to give our children scholarships from primary school to the university levels, but for the past ten years that they came here, they’ve not fulfilled any promise they made to us.
“In this community, there is no hospital, no pipe borne water, no electricity! We’ve taken our complaints to government, but they neglected us. We’re seen as oil rich community, yet, we have no basic amenities. Our youths and women are neglected. We have no town hall.
“This exploration exercise has caused environmental degradation, especially erosion, and this has left no fewer than thirty houses submerged.”
Also speaking, the President General of Ogwu Ikpele community, Mr. Esumai Patrick Chukwudi, said the reason for the gathering was to protest ten years of rejection, humiliation and insult from SPEECO exploration company, which he said, has been mining in the town with no compensation for the host community.
“No employment, no road, no portable water supply, no hospital, nothing that is coming from them, and we have been begging them since they started operations. There is no metering that will ensure the quantity of oil they get here. We cannot determine the quantity of oil going out from the community because they laid pipes beneath the River Niger. We have gas; we have crude, yet we cannot give account of them.
“The company has refused to come up with its social responsibilities, and oil spillage has affected our farmlands, and polluted our waters. We want the world to hear us and come to our help.”
The president of youths in the community, Aghauli Chimuanya Peter, noted that the community has demand that the company build roads, pipe borne water, electricity, solar powered lights, and give employment to the people, but that none was granted.
Another community leader, Aghauli Dominic Chukwudi, urged Governor Soludo to intervene so that SEEPCO would leave significant infrastructure on the ground in the community.
Woman Leader of the community, Mrs Onwuaghamadu Victoria, noted that the existence of SOEECO in Ogwu Ikpele is useless, because there is nothing good to show about their experience.
