Fuel hike protesters threaten to shut down oil facilities in Delta State

FOR many hours yesterday, irate protesters made up of Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Isoko and Igbo ethnic groups, shut down commercial activities at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) area of Warri, Delta State.

Representatives of the groups, who addressed the media at the busy NPA by-pass junction, said they were giving the Federal Government 24 hours to revert to the old pump price of N65 a litre or they would be forced to move into all the oil-producing communities in the state and shut down all oil operations there.

The over 2,000 protesters carried placards with various inscriptions and marched from the Millar Jetty area of Warri through the NPA by-pass and eventually ended up at the NPA main gate. Some of the inscriptions read: “Do not impoverish Nigerians”.

While the protest was going on, some eminent persons in the state were allegedly threatening the coordinator of the protest, Michael Johnny, to immediately suspend the protest but it continued.

“We are giving the Federal Government 24 hours to revert to the former N65 a litre or we will go into all our oil-producing communities and shut down all oil operations.

“We are not in support of the subsidy removal because it is adversely affecting the poor people and it has caused severe security problems in the country. The fuel subsidy is a huge scam. We mean every word that we will shut down all oil operations in the state if the Federal Government does not revert the pump price of fuel to N65 a litre within 24 hours”, Johnny said.

Some of the representatives of the Delta ethnic nationalities, who also addressed the protesters, included Dave Agute (Urhobo); Simeon Bebenimibor (Ijaw); Tunde Otiri (Itsekiri); Fred Isele (Isoko), among others.

Bebenimibor said before the removal of fuel subsidy, a boat ride to his village was N1,200 but now, commuters are paying N10,000 for the same journey. He said the people of the Niger Delta were vehemently opposed to the removal of fuel subsidy because of the enormous impact on poor Nigerians.

He lamented that the Federal Government unveiled buses in Abuja but nothing was done to alleviate marine transportation.

-Nigeria Fuel subsidy News Update

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By Chido Okafor, Warri