Women seize Nigerian oil rig

Local women have seized control of an oil rig in southeastern Nigeria, trapping about 700 workers.

Officials from ChevronTexaco Nigeria were holding talks with the protesters today amid fears the demonstrations could spread.

Around 150 women boarded the Escravos rig in the Niger delta on Monday demanding jobs for their sons and electricity for their villages.

State police commissioner John Ahmadu said talks broke down again yesterday.

‘‘They are insisting on seeing only the top management,’’ he said.

The women have vowed to stay until their demands are met.

Ahmadu said other groups in the Niger delta region were threatening similar protests, citing reports that women from the Itsekiri tribe were threatening to take over oil wells in their region.

‘‘It looks like this is growing,’’ he said.

The women are preventing workers from entering or leaving the rig.

But Ahmadu said the workers were not in danger, and that the oil giant was providing the women with food and medical help.

The peaceful protest is a departure for communities in the oil-rich Niger Delta, where armed young men frequently resort to kidnapping and sabotage to demand jobs, protection money and compensation for alleged environmental damage.

The people in the Niger Delta are impoverished, despite living on land that yields £13 billion in oil exports every year. The lack of development has prompted activists to focus their demands for roads, water and schools on oil companies.