BY NGOZI OKORIE
SHELL Petroleum Development Company has pleaded with persons living disabilities, who have blocked its access gates, to please vacate its premises.
The company said the PWDs, under the auspices of Great Minds Foundation of People Living with Deformities (Niger Delta), arrived the main access gates to its Port Harcourt Industrial Area and Residential Area on January 20, 2021.
It said they had remained there since then and were impeding access, warning also that the group should desist from harassing SPDC staff.
“The group presented a letter, dated 15 January 2021, demanding from SPDC a total sum of N567million for the ‘empowerment’ of its members,” a statement signed by the Media Relations Manager, SPDC, Bamidele Odugbesan, said.
The firm also noted that it was constrained by the continuous siege on its facility by the PWDs, and pleaded with the protesters to explore dialogue.
“A group of persons who claim to be representing Great Minds Foundation of People Living with Deformities (Niger Delta), arrived the main access gates to our Port Harcourt Industrial Area and Residential Area on 20 January 2021, impeding access, and they have remained there until the time of issuing this statement,” Odugbesan said.
He explained that the company had shown enough evidence of SPDC’s programmes in support of PWDs, but that the protesters were still demanding N20 million to demobilise their members.
The statement read in part, “All pleas to them to vacate our access gates and embrace dialogue failed as they presented another request for N20million as a condition to demobilise their members.
“We have shown the group evidence of the many programmes in support of people with special needs both within the Niger Delta and the wider Nigeria. They form a key part of our social investment programmes for vulnerable groups in our communities.
“We believe in dialogue and would advise the group to embrace non-disruptive approach in soliciting support We are also asking the group to vacate our access gates and premises and desist from threatening and harassing our staff.”
