13 October 2011, Sweetcrude, Warri – The Niger Delta Indigenous Movement for Radical Change, an oil exploration monitoring group in the region, on Wednesday vowed to disrupt the activities of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria.
The group is alleging plans by the oil company to scuttle the implimentation of the Nigerian government’s Local Content Act.
Shell, through its Media Relations Officer in Warri, Mr. Joseph Obari, however, insists it has awarded contracts worth nearly $947 million to Nigerian companies in recent times, in line with the Local Content Act.
In a statement in Warri, the group alleged that the company had embarked on a mission to “kill the Local Content Act” and urged President Goodluck Jonathan to adopt the “military” approach to save youths and local contractors operating in the areafrom being neglected by Shell.
The statement signed by President, Nelly Emma; Secretary, John Sailor and Mukoro Stanley, the group said it would continue with its plan to ground the activities of Shell and other oil companies who circumvent the Local Content Act signed into Law by the Federal Government in 2010.
It said: “We have not dropped our plan to mobilise thousands of Niger Delta women to cripple the activities of oil majors in the region. What happened recently at Escravos when the people mobilised against Chevron will be repeated with Shell.
“We want transparency in the oil industry and we are not going to hesitate to call the President to be firm with the oil companies relating to the Local Content Act so that his dream of eradicating poverty and youth unemployment will be achieved soonest.”
