Dealing with an oily customer

While we sleepwalk through our political lives, at least some other people in some other places know who to target and aren't afraid to speak the truth. The Globe & Mail (Toronto, Ontario) has details.

Lagos, Nigeria (October 31) - Unions declared the top oil multinational here, Royal Dutch/Shell, "an enemy of the Nigerian people" on Sunday and called a Nov. 16 nationwide strike that they said would target oil exports in Africa's oil giant. ...

Unions called the Nov. 16 strike after giving President Olusegun Obasanjo until Sunday to reverse September's 23 percent increase in fuel prices in Nigeria.

Union leaders singled out Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Nigeria's largest petroleum producer, which they accused of planning to try to block the strike in the courts.

"We have resolved to declare Shell an enemy of the Nigerian people," Adams Oshiomhole, leader of the main Nigeria Labor Congress, told reporters.

"Shell will be treated as an enemy. We have the capacity to engage them," Mr. Oshiomhole said.

Nigeria accounts for roughly 20% of US oil imports.