The gates of the multibillion-dollar Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) in Bonny were in the early hours of Thursday, June 10, blocked by protesters from the Finima community in Rivers State.
The protesters prevented workers of the company who had arrived early to start the morning shift from gaining access into the premises while those who did night shift and were about leaving the plant have been trapped inside.
BusinessDay gathered that the bone of contention has to do with host community rights.
The leaders of the Finima community, who were yet to make a formal address as at the time of reporting, hinted unofficially to BusinessDay that all host community rights go to the larger Bonny leadership whereas the entire land housing the NLNG complex belongs to Finima community.
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A leader, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorised to speak to journalists, said they have used many other forms of communication to seek resolution of the issues to no avail.
He said several memos written to the government and the NLNG have fallen on deaf ears and that going physical was the last resort.
Soldiers and other security agencies have arrived to take position as tension gathers.
Some of the protest organisers have warned against any attempt by security agencies from harming the protesters.
Meanwhile, NLNG officials were yet to arrive to speak to the situation.
Details coming…
