Oil and Gas companies
operating in the Niger Delta have been called to strictly obey the stipulations of the Local Content  Act as it relates to their operations.
An oil worker, Engr Nnamdi Orlukwu, said this in a chat with The Tide last Saturday in Port Harcourt.
The oil worker who spoke concerning the discovery of oil in Omerelu, Ikwerre Local Government Area, saying that oil companies have, over the years, denied host communities of their rights.
Orlukwu, pointed out that ordinarily, any community  hosting an oil company ought to have its indigenes as staff in the company and not contractors.
He said the contractor issue, was a mere ploy to deceive the people about their main stake in oil activities.
According to him, the Federal Government should monitor such development as to avert crisis in the region.
On the Omerelu oil discovery, he advised the community  to turm down any negotiation that would not inclusive the staffing of at least 16 of their children by any oil company coming for the drilling.
He said some contracts like pipeline surveillance was just a kind of stipend consideration for village heads and not enshrined in oil operations.
He, also called on Omerelu people to use lawyers and oil workers to approach the company, saying that they may be short-changed if they fail to employ the services of professionals.
Orlukwu, who blamed most of the oil related crisis on the oil companies, noted that a serious move by concerned authorities was needed in order to parmantently over haul the system.
The Tide gathered that Omerelu has been listed as oil-host community since the discovery of the oil well sometime last year.