The leadership of former agitators in the Niger Delta has
threatened to shut down the operations of an oil company, Sterling Global Oil
Resources, in the region over alleged issues of pollution and neglect of the
region.
In a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Wednesday,
spokesman of the repentant militants, General Mudork Apele, alleged that the
firm failed to comply with environmental standards in its operations.
They further enjoined the federal government to immediately
revoke the licence granted the firm to save the environment.
The ex-militants added that they would not allow the firm
allegedly operated by Indians to short-change the region.
The statement said, "We cannot allow this to continue.
This is a region with so much poverty yet our oil wells are operated by
non-Niger Deltans (Indians) who are insensitive to the plight of the Niger
Deltans, when we have capacity to handle it.
“This set of Indians has done so much damage to our region
through some of their activities which have caused terrible pollution on our
water where they convey their products from Asemuku to Age River.
“We call on the federal government to immediately revoke the
oil licence of this firm before October
“The company has been very unfair to our people. Federal
government must withdraw their licence. This is our stand.”
They also accused the company of enslaving its Nigerians
staff by paying them with a different scale from their Indian counterparts.
The ex-militants also alleged that the company denied its
Nigerian workers their allowances even where they are forced to work in
sub-human conditions.
The agitators demanded that the company should leave the
region before October 1 or forced to take further actions to cripple the
operations of the company.
No comments:
Post a Comment