By Egufe Yafugborhi

PORT HARCOURT —IJAW Youths Council, IYC, has said it would not allow 2019 general election in Niger Delta if Shell Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCO, fails to reverse alleged relocation of its logistics base from Rivers State to Lagos.

Niger-Delta

SNEPCO, deep offshore arm of Shell, claims it was merely setting up a new logistic base in Lagos to enhance operations, but worried workers and IYC maintain that the company’s resolve to move vital equipment, including turbines, to Lagos from Onne Free Trade Zone, Rivers State, where it has been operating for over 20 years, would lead to loss of thousands of jobs.

Speaking at a restructuring rally in Port Harcourt, Rivers State,  IYC President, Oweilaemi Pereotubo, said: “We are totally against the relocation of SNEPCO out of Niger Delta to Lagos. If they claim Niger Delta is not safe for them to live, it would also not be safe for them to carry out their oil and gas exploration and exploitation works.

“Our position on their relocation is irreversible and we are demanding that if they do not relocate to Niger Delta between September 2018 to January 31, 2019, Ijaw would ensure there are no elections in the South-South come 2019.”

The Ijaw supreme youth body also urged the Federal Government to make good its workplan to clean oil polluted Niger Delta, embrace restructuring and to prevail on oil majors to honour government’s order on movement of head offices to their operating environment.