SHELL ATROCITIES ON NIGERIANS

[Anonymous]

"SHELL MANAGEMENT BRUTALITY AGAINST NIGERIAN STAFF AND UNION EXECUTIVES

"The industrial action embarked upon by the Shell Nigerian staff under the auspices of Shell Branch of The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) is to protest against:

1.            The influx of expatriates into the Company at the expense of Qualified Nigerians.

2.          False declaration of Expatriate disciplines with the Nigerian Immigration, thereby circumventing the Expatriate Quota allocated per discipline to Shell.

3.          Compulsory early retirement for Nigerians while retired expatriates are being employed by the Company on sumptuous Contract packages.

4.          Storage of the Company’s (i.e. Shell Nigeria) Oil and Gas business data and information overseas instead of Nigeria under the guise of improving business performance through implementation of SAP.

5.          The location of the Shell Africa Regional Head office in The Hague (which is not an African country) instead of Nigeria which contributes more than 80% of production from the African region.

Shell Management has addressed none of the above-mentioned concerns and no visible effort has been made by Shell in this direction.

On Friday 5th September 2003, Shell Nigeria Management instructed its security apparatus to brutalise the Nigerian Staff at 06:15 hrs that were peacefully protesting against the Neo-Colonialist policies of Shell. The brutalisation of the peacefully protesting Nigerians was carried out in the presence of the Shell General Manager East (GPE) and in the process the Shell security apparatus also damaged some vehicles. The External Relations Manager and the Acting Head Security East later confirmed the instruction by Shell Management (i.e. use any and all force necessary to stop this peaceful protest). The brutalised staff were later hospitalised at the Shell Clinic in Port Harcourt, where they received treatment for the inflicted injuries.

This peaceful protest by the Shell Nigerian staff started on Wednesday 27th August 2003.

The Shell Branch of PENGASSAN Nigeria has formally protested against this line of action by the Management towards an entirely peaceful protest and is awaiting their reaction.

Further escalation may put Shell’s oil production (above 800,000 barrels per day) at risk.

Meanwhile, PENGASSAN has directed all its members and all well meaning Nigerians to sustain this struggle until Shell stops implementing its neo-colonialist policies in Nigeria".
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SHELL has taken a cue from the brutalization of the journalist Tunde Akinyele by the security agents of Atiku Abubakar. Since the security agents have not been indicted and there is no sign that the rule of law will prevail, and it is business as usual at Aso rock, the descendants of the apartheid regime decided that what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
I am sad, I am angry, I am frustrated. Isnt it enough that one meets with all sorts of racial innuendoes abroad? The greatest irony is that if this occured to a Nigerian abroad, he'll in all probability get some sort of justice or recompense, whereas in his own country, where he is supposed to get optimal respect, freedom and protection he is treated with less respect than would be accorded a common criminal.

[lionger]

I feel u bro but don't be so quick to bring in racial slurs and grievances into this. It not really about racism, it's more about globalization and the abuse that big multinationals like Shell can do to underdeveloped countries without combative supervision but the government and the public. If Shell was a South African Company they'd do exactly the same thing, especially because they have the full backing of the Federal Govt of Nigeria! As such they treat local employees badly, pollute the environment, don't even feel obliged to develop the oil areas cuz that means less or no profit for them. But these are all things the Federal Govt should be taking them to task on. Instead they are probably in full collusion.

I believe our only hope is to vote in a responsible govt, cuz multinationals are too big a monster to challenge if the govt is behind them or has taken a 'siddon look' approach. In addition we should also start investing in our other resources like ore and steel. We have so many natural resources in Nigeria, but when we found oil everyone shouted hallelujah and our minds went to sleep. Yet we we're still too lazy to even rebuild our refineries. We are so lazy; the big economies of the Far East (S. Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore) have no raw materials or natural resources to boast of, yet they have been able to build big industries, whose products even shame the West, thru sheer hardwork. At independence Nigeria was  ahead of S. Korea and Japan; today these countries are dumping their products into our market in the name of free trade. If we don't start working hard, things wil continue to get worse.

[Anonymous]

Might I recommend an article in last Sunday's Sunday Herald (of Glasgow, Scotland) for information on oil companies disgraceful behaviour in your country.
The newspaper is available on the net.