We can’t lose petroleum hub like Ghana Gas – Concerned Jomoro Youth

A group calling itself Concerned Youth of Jomoro and the Jomoro Development Agenda have vowed to kick against persons and groups opposing the implementation of the proposed Petroleum Hub Development Corporation which government has secured 20,000-acre plot of land for the project.

Addressing a press conference at Bonyere Junction in the Western Region, the Spokesperson for the Jomoro Development Agenda, Mark Asmah Arthur, highlighted the benefits the Petroleum Hub could bring to the people of Jomoro.

“It is with great joy receiving the news of 12 billion dollars agreement signed between the government of Ghana and TCP-UIC Consortium for the much awaited first phase of the petroleum hub project. The Chiefs and people of the western Nzema traditional Area (Jomoro) are grateful for the governments steadfastness and determination to ensuring that Jomoro becomes the Rotterdam of Africa and the major trading grounds for petroleum and petrochemical products.

“The people of Jomoro know the enormous benefits that come with a project of this kind, spanning from changing our agrarian local economy to a more robust, civilised and commerce driven economy that will positively affect the livelihood of every individual in our municipality. We want to state that we have not been short changed or mistreated by government, any individual or group mandated to deal with the people of the Jomoro area as far as this project is concerned,” he noted.

Also speaking at the press conference, the President of the Concerned Youth of Jomoro, Francis Afi Armah, on their part said Jomoro cannot afford to lose the Petroleum Hub Project as they did in the past with the Ghana Gas Processing Plant.

They therefore warned to stop persons pushing against the project.

“We wish to state emphatically that we support the government and its partners in the development of the Petroleum Hub in the enclave. We also agree with our Chiefs and elders of the Western Nzema Traditional Area in allocating the 20,000-acre land for the project.

“We in the enclave acknowledge that 3.68% of the total land area of the Jomoro Municipality is significant, but considering the enormous benefits that Nzemaland and Ghana as a whole will receive, we have no regrets in our preference for the Petroleum Hub project.

“We have been here before. Between 2010 and 2012, we saw how later our leaders battled against the relocation of Ghana Gas from the enclave to Atuabo because the same miscreants and their forebearers acted irrationally against the will of the people,” he stressed.

They decried how such opposition to projects in the Jomoro enclave has affected development in the area.

“Today, the entire Jomoro seems dead with no vibrant socio-economic activities to create jobs and better living conditions for us. We remember vividly the “Coconut for Life” mantra, seriously espoused by some trusted but ill-wished statesmen. We have fresh memories of how communities such as Egbazo, Old Kabenlasuazo, and Ndumsuazo were incited to reject the Ghana Gas project. Today, where is the Coconut for Life project?

“We are aware that, at least, every community has been engaged at various levels eight times. Apart from the target communities, farmers, and landowners, we know for a fact that the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation, PHDC, has engaged all the seven Paramount Chiefs of Nzemaland, all the three Municipal and District Assemblies, and the Members of Parliament of the three Nzema constituencies. It is important to note that PHDC has even sensitized Nzemas in the diaspora,” he added.

The Concerned Youth of Jomoro urged the government and the PHDC to hasten the process and bring additional investments to cater for the other phases of the project, and further warned critics of the project

“To keep their diabolism to themselves, for we shall fiercely resist any attempt to stall the project with all our strength and everything we believe in.”

The entire Petroleum Hub Development Corporation project is estimated to cost $60 billion, and estimated to provide 780,000 direct and indirect jobs by the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority, as well as expected that a number of the Nzema youth will have technical and managerial positions for the transformation of the entire Nzema.

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