PUNCH
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Online whistleblower, WikiLeaks, has revealed that multinational oil giant, Shell, has inserted staff into all the main ministries of the Nigerian government, giving it access to politicians moves in the Niger Delta, the Guardian of London reports.
Ann Pickard, then Shells vice-president for sub-Saharan Africa, told US diplomats that Shell had seconded employees to every relevant department and so knew everything that was being done in those ministries.
The leaked US diplomatic cable said the unnamed executive boasted that the Nigerian government had forgotten about the extent of Shells infiltration and were unaware of how much the company knew about its deliberations.