Joseph Kanjo, Benin
The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has called on the Nigerian government to keenly monitor the proposed sales of assets in the Niger Delta region by Shell so as to ensure the process is open, transparent and inclusive to enable communities with ongoing litigations and others with verifiable claims against Shell to participate and monitor the process.
The environment rights organisation also called on civil society organistions, CSOs, and local communities to immediately put in place negotiating teams that will participate in any discussions and decision on the sales of “Shell’s environmentally destructive assets.”
A statement jointly signed by Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, Executive Director and Mike Karikpo, Programmes Director, (ERA/FoEN) respectfully, which was made available to INFO DAILY, Monday, by Public Relations Officer of the organistion said this will ensure the billions of dollars that would accrue from the sale would be utilized for the remediation, compensation and restoration of the environment.
According to the statement, participation of concerned stakeholders becomes more relevant in this “decade of Ecosystem Restoration declared by the United Nations 2021-2030,” adding “as oil fades away as the energy source of choice across the world, it is imperative that all oil impacted ecosystems across the country should be cleaned and restored as much as possible to the state they were before the commencement of oil mining activities. Anything short of this, is unacceptable.”
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While strongly condemning Shell’s plans to sell its land based and shallow offshore oil fields and infrastructures in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, the statement said the company is running away from accountability for its “ruinous actions in the Niger Delta region and amounts to eating your cake and having it.”
“In its characteristic nature, Shell having almost drained the region dry of oil and gas resources and engaged in ecocide because of its reckless and unconscionable operations in the region now seeks to walk away from its crime scene with billions of dollars in its kitty.
“Shell recently sold OML 17 to HEIRS Holding in a deal worth well over half a billion dollars and absolutely nothing was set aside for the remediation and restoration of the damaged ecosystem of communities around this area.
“Shell owes the environment and the people of the Niger Delta region a huge ecological debt for its reckless operations in the region over the last seven decades,” the statement reads.
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The statement which quoted a community leader in the Niger Delta region, Eraks Kobah, who commented on activities of Shell said, “Shell as a criminal enterprise that is only interested in maximizing profit.”
The statement said Kobah stated further that his community has been in court with Shell for decades over the major oil blowout and destruction of the environment and the community’s sources of livelihood around the Bomu manifold in Kdere in the Ogoni area of Nigeria.
The statement which further stated that Shell has a history of disdain for local communities and disrespect of Nigeria’s justice system, cited the repeated refusal of Shell to pay the N17 billion compensation awarded by a Nigerian court to the Ejama-Ebubu community in Eleme local government area of Rivers state for oil spills that devastated their land in 2010.
“This spill occurred during the Nigerian civil war 1967-1970 and Shell has refused to undertake proper cleanup of the spill area or pay the compensation set by the court.
“In November 2020 Shell lost an attempt to extricate itself from responsibility for the spill and the compensation cost awarded against it.
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“The Nigerian supreme court rejected Shell’s bid to set aside the 2010 compensation award, with accruing interest the compensation claim now stands at a healthy N180 billion,” it added.
ERA/FoEN therefore called on the Nigerian state to protect local communities’ interest within the “divestment process of oil and gas multinational companies operating in the Niger Delta region and halt Shell’s attempt to run away from its mess without proper clean up of the Niger Delta.”
Metro4 days ago
