Nigeria: Militants Threaten to Cripple Oil Companies

More trouble in the Niger Delta. The Grand Alliance of Niger Delta, made up of militant groups, have threatened oil and gas companies in the Niger Delta with reprisal attacks, should their ultimatum to employ Niger Delta youth expire without any positive action.
At a conference in Port Harcourt yesterday, the group referred to a letter they wrote to oil and gas companies in the region dated August 28, 2007, and signed by their President, one General Abiye Toru, that if by September 7, 2007, their youth have not been employed, they will strike at the companies.
Addressing the conference, Toru said the excuse the companies had been bandying was that there were no qualified Niger Delta youth to handle positions in their organisations.
“Contrary to the claim, we conducted census of graduates from the region, most of whom were unemployed and discovered that there were over 250,000 youth qualified in various fields of specialisation in the oil and gas sector” he said