On October 26 and 28, African youths in Nigeria seized control
of a Shell/Chevron/Texaco flow station and an Agip Nigeria
Limited facility in the Rivers State area.
The youths occupying the Agip facility said that Agip had
disregarded an Environmental Impact Assessment of its site
and that adverse effects on the environment were already arising.
They seized the facility in an attempt to protect African
people in the area from these effects.
A recent study by representatives of World Wildlife Foundation
(WW) UK, the World Conservation Union and representatives
from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and the Nigeria
Conservation Foundation concluded that the Niger Delta is
among the five most polluted spots on the face of the earth
with dire consequences for the health of inhabitants of the
area.
Imperialist oil corporations operate in the area stealing
the oil wealth of Africa with no regard to their practices
that leave crude leaks that destroy the health of the Africans
who are being robbed of their own land’s wealth.
Shell is one of the biggest thieves in the region. Last year
the company, which boasted profits of $22.94 billion, extracted
900,000 barrels of crude oil a day from its activities in
the Niger Delta. On top of that, it steals this oil using
old pipes and swamp flowlines that are steadily leaking oil
into the once pristine waters of the delta. The cost of the
leaking crude is estimated to be costing Nigeria $10 million
a day.
Assaults on the exploitative oil facilities and personnel
by African people in the area have risen in the region over
the years, cutting oil exports by one quarter from Nigeria
which is the world’s sixth largest oil exporter.
The general demand from the African communities in the Niger
Delta has been for control over their own oil resources.
