By Osahon Osahon
A protesting female student was reportedly shot on Thursday by a yet-to-be-identified mobile police operative at the gate of the headquarters building of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), in Benin City, Edo State.
The victim, whose name could not be confirmed as at the time of filing this report, was among about 50 students selected from tertiary institutions across the nine Niger Delta States, under the aegis of Niger Delta Student’s Union Government for the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) workshop, organized by the NPDC in Benin City.
The protesting students had on Wednesday barricaded the gates of the NNPC building, thereby preventing members of staff of the company from accessing the building complex.
They urged the management to implement the agreement reached at the recent PIA workshop, tith the theme: “Upstream (E&P) sector of the Petroleum Industry Act and its corporate social responsibilities to host communities in the Niger delta region”.
The coordinator of the protest, Emieye Romio, who led other students to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Benin City, said they were at the NPDC in continuation of their dialogue with the management when the female student was shot by the unidentified police operative.
He said they reconvened at the company’s gate hoping that the management would meet and possibly respond to their demands but when the policemen arrived the scene, one of them shot repeatedly to disperse the crowd of protesters and, unfortunately, the bullet hit the student’s leg.
“The lady that got hit by the bullet has been rushed to the hospital. We were here yesterday but they didn’t respond to us. We decided to come back today to air our grievances so that they can fulfill the agreement they had with us before the training began,” Romio said.
When contacted, Edo Police Command spokesman, SP Kontongs Bello, said he was at Okada and was yet to be briefed about the incident.
