Shell evacuates 400 dependents of its expatriate staff in Nigeria

"Widespread poverty and decades of neglect by the Nigerian government"

The Al Jazeera website is reporting that Royal Dutch Shell is evacuating about 400 of the dependants of its expatriate staff from the Niger Delta to Lagos after fighters planted a car bomb in a residential compound earlier in the week. The stimulus to evacuate was engendered by another attack today when armed men stormed Total's Rivers state oil facility killing three police officers.

However, Shell staff will stay put and oil and gas production will not be affected, company officials said. In February, Shell, the largest oil operator in Nigeria, shut down its western delta operations after attacks and kidnappings, cutting Nigerian oil output by about a fifth.

The mounting violence is rooted in widespread poverty and decades of neglect by the Nigerian government, which has failed to convert the delta's oil wealth into local jobs or development.