ENERGY
Last week, youth leaders of several ethnic groups in Nigeria converged on Abuja to pressure the authorities to take appropriate action against Shell Petroleum Development Company over alleged underhand dealings in the course of carrying out their operations in Nigeria. Emmanuel Addeh writes that it was one of the few instances that the country’s youth leaders appeared to have spoken with one voice on such a matter of national importance
The placard-wielding, tough-talking horde of youths, stormed the seat of power last Tuesday had one mission in mind: compensation for the aggrieved and sanctions for the alleged culprits.
Business/ ENERGY
For a while, insinuations that certain oil companies operating in Nigeria engage in underhand activities in the process of carrying out their businesses had been rife. Emmanuel Addeh writes that the latest dust raised by Aiteo E&P’s accusation that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) wilfully carried out unfair dealings against it, has again brought the matter to the fore, highlighting that the indigenous oil concern appears to have a strong case against the international oil giant
It started like the usual rumours, mostly unsubstantiated, of how the oil sector is exceptionally dirty, but since documents surfaced about how SPDC allegedly short-changed some local oil firms, it has almost taken the form of a scandal.The bone of contention is that between 2016 and 2018, SPDC putting to use a metering device not approved by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) short-changed local operators, Aiteo, being the hardest hit, to the tune of millions of barrel