Unpaid wages, sackings stir new tension in Nigeria's oil hub

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of a section of Nigeria's oil hub city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria July 7, 2010. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye/File Photo

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria/LONDON (Reuters) - The moment a group of Nigerian contractors met executives from Italian oil major ENI to discuss unpaid wages they started shouting, calling them fraudsters and liars until a police commander restored calm.

Wenenda Mpi, local manager of ENI unit Agip, blamed the payment delays on debts owed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and said the government had promised to sort the problem out.