River State youths under the aegis of Rivers Youth Federation (RYF) laid siege to the supply base of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCO, in the Oil and Gas Free Zone, Onne, Rivers State on Thursday, over alleged move by the company to relocate its base to Lagos.
Company Spokesman, Bamidele Odugbesan, however, denied the relocation story, saying “SNEPCO has no intention of shutting down the Onne Logistics Supply Base. It will continue to be utilised by Shell, operator of the SPDC Joint Venture.
“SNEPCO’s operations are in the Bonga field 120 kilometers off Nigerian coast in the Gulf of Guinea and our operations staff and contractors work offshore in Bonga.”
We gathered that it took the intervention of ex-militant leader, now HRM King Ateke Tom, Amanyanabo of Okochiri, Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State and men of the Department of State Services, DSS, in the state to dissuade the agitated protester from invading the SNEPCO base.
