OVER three hundred Itsekiri graduates, early yesterday, stormed the Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) Warri office and sealed off its two premises just as they prevented staff from entering into their offices over CNL 2007 recruitment exercise where 97 other graduates and just one (1) Itsekiri was employed.
The protesting unemployed graduates under the aegis of National Association of Itsekiri Graduates (NAIG) insisted that so many of their members have successfully scaled through CNL interview, aptitude and medical test since 2002 and are still not engaged while fresh interviews are being conducted and qualified candidates of other ethnic groups recruited that are already on the job.
The protesters who displayed the employment letters and photographs of the recently employed 97 graduates at the two premises of the company along the Warri/NPA expressway said they can no longer tolerate this gross injustice, marginalisation and disdain from CNL in their own land.
According to the President of NAIG, Comrade Tony Omabuwa, �The action of CNL in Warri have shown that they cannot address the issues at stake as previous and several attempts by them to dialogue with the management have failed to yield the desired result.
�So we demand that the Lagos management team should come to Warri and tell us why we can not be engaged by CNL in our own land,� he maintained.
Chevron last week told Vanguard that the Swamp Facilities where the Itsekiri graduates were expected to work was vandalized during the Warri crises and that account for why they have not been engaged, but comrade T. Omabuwa wondered why it is the Itsekiri that must work in the swamp and so deserve to remain unemployed while persons from non-oil producing areas in the country are engaged to work in the office only.
All attempt to speak with the Manager, Public Affairs, CNL, Warri, Mr. John Ashima was unsuccessful as he did not pick up his call during the period of protest even as another senior officer, Mr Tony Emeagere promised to get back to Vanguard when he is sure of the situation but did not as at the time of filling this report.
Oct32007