Barely 48 hours after a flow station belonging to Shell, Chevron and Texaco was seized by Kula Youths in the Akuku Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, another facility belonging to Agip Nigeria Limited has been seized by youths in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of the state.
The gas facility was taken over by the youths yesterday who vowed not to vacate the premises until their demands were met.
According to them, Agip had disregarded the conduct of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project before siting it there.
Speaking through Mr. Chukwuma Umejiru, the youths said that all efforts to get the management of Agip to dialogue with them on their complaint were rebuffed leading to their resorting to self help.
Umejiru stated that already, there were adverse effects on their environment arising from the operational activities of the plant, hence the need for them to protect their people.
All efforts to get the response of the oil giant failed though a staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity assured THISDAY that there were efforts to resolve the issue in the next 24 hours so that the youths would vacate the facility.
Meanwhile, the Kula takeover of oil facility is said to be nearing an end as a team of negotiators have started dialoguing with the youths who allegedly gave them assurance that they would vacate it in the next 24 hours if certain conditions were met.
Attacks on oil facilities and personnel by separatist militants and communities have risen in the restive region over the years, cutting oil exports by one quarter from Nigeria which is the world’s sixth-biggest oil exporter. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which is waging a campaign of kidnapping and sabotage against the world’s eighth largest oil exporter, is believed to be behind most of the abductions. MEND is demanding local control over the delta’s oil resources.
Oct282006