Protesters continue blockade of Chevron oil depot

….as new group attacks NNPC pipelines

By Odunewu Segun

Protesters have continued their blockade of Chevron oil depot in the restive Niger-Delta region, closing down Chevron crude flow in Abiteye, Jones Creek and other operations unless their demands for jobs and housing are met.

The protesters, mostly unemployed youths, started the demonstration on Tuesday, demanding jobs and new housing, claiming their settlement had been destroyed due to a Chevron oil depot, or tank farm.

One of the protesters, simply identified as Jude told National Daily that those working inside the tank farm have joined the protest. “Nobody is going in and out of the facility since we’ve started but Chevron has airlifted their senior staff from there,” he explained.

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“Our protest is going on peacefully today. Our community workers inside the tank farm have joined the protest as we speak, nobody is going in and out of the facility since we’ve started but Chevron has airlifted their senior staff from there,” he said.

Meanwhile, a splinter group from the Niger Delta Avengers, Delta Greenland Justice Mandate has claimed responsibility for the attack on a crude pipeline belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Shoreline Natural Resources in Urhobo, Delta State.

The militants, National Daily gathered, are demanding for greater share of Nigeria’s oil wealth – which accounts for around 70 percent of national income – to be passed on to communities in the impoverished region and for areas blighted by oil spills to be cleaned up.

Communities in Nigeria’s southern swampland often complain about oil pollution and houses being moved to make way for drilling. They also say they live in poverty despite sitting on much of Nigeria’s oil wealth.

The Niger Delta region has been hit by a wave of militant attacks on oil and gas pipelines, reducing Nigeria’s crude output by 700,000 barrels a day, according to state oil company NNPC.