One dies as women protesters lay siege to Shell, Chevron in Warri, Nigeria

RESTIVE women from some oil producing communities in Delta State yesterday renewed their siege to oil company's facilities in Warri.

The women numbering about 2,000, and allegedly from Itsekiri and Ijaw communities, as early as 5.30 am stormed the premises of Chevron Texaco Nigeria and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in the town. They barricaded their entrances and prevented workers who had reported for duty from entering their offices.

In the placards displayed by them, the protesting women accused the two oil firms of polluting their environment through gas flaring.

Though the protest was generally peaceful, it was not without casualty, as a woman was reportedly shut by a soldier in an anti-riot team sent to dislodge the women from the firms' premises.

She allegedly died in the hands of her colleagues while being rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.
But a statement by Shell's Corporate External Relations Manager, Mr. Donald Boham described the protesters as wives of employees of contractors to the organisation who were following up a similar exercise last month over poor conditions of service.
Boham said the exercise was restricted to the gates of the company's offices in Warri, adding that it did not affect production and export of crude oil.

According to Boham, "a group of women protesters who barricaded and denied some staff of Shell in Warri, access to their offices earlier today (yesterday) have vacated the area, following an understanding reached with the protesters.

"The picketing, it is believed, follows from one held last month by contractor-staff drivers over welfare demands on their employers, who are contractors to SPDC. The protestors were mostly wives and relatives of these drivers. "The incident, restricted to the gates of our Warri offices, did not affect production and export of crude oil.

"In the meantime, SPDC is making efforts to get the contractors to talk with their employees," he stated.
Shell's offices at Ogun and Edjeba were closed to business as the women barred the workers from entry into their offices.

But later in the day, a combined team of Mobile police men and soldiers which arrived the area successfully pushed the protesters out of the firm's premises unto the expressway.

One of the protesting women who spoke on their protest accused Shell and Chevron of polluting their environment and introducing "strange illnesses" into their communities through the flaring of gas and oil spillages.