A human rights organization, ‘We The People,’ has said that it is considering legal options to hold international oil companies responsible for the massive environmental degradation from their operations in the Niger Delta for the past seven decades.

The organization said the move became necessary following the rush by the IOCs to abandon their onshore operations for deep offshore activities currently called divestment.

Executive Director of ‘We The People,’ Ken Henshaw, stated this during a Legal Roundtable on Oil Company Divestment, held in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

Henshaw said the roundtable was aimed at galvanizing experts on the environment, legal system, the media and civil society organizations to proffer legal options to hold the IOCs responsible for the years of environmental carnage in the Niger Delta before they are allowed to embark on what many have described as the criminal flight of oil multi-nationals.

According to The PUNCH, he noted that it would be difficult to hold the companies accountable for the pollution of the region caused by their operations once they leave the shores of the country, hence they needed to be tackled to take responsibility for their activities.

Henshaw stated, “Since 2020 to 2021, many international oil companies that have operated in the Niger Delta for nearly 70 years have all started selling off their assets, Agip is selling to Oando, Shell is selling to Renaissance Energy, ExxonMobil is selling to Seplat. They are selling off these assets and the players taking over these assets are indigenous companies.

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“We think that this is a real problem in the sense that we are not sure of the chances or opportunities of holding these companies accountable when they leave.

“We all know that the extraction of crude oil and gas has created different levels of problems. Routinely, gas has been flared for almost 70 years, routinely oil spilled for almost 60 years and this has caused serious ecological damage and also damage to the health of the people. It has made their fishing and occupation not viable.

“So after 70 years, we are simply saying that there is a need for us to assess the extent of negative impacts created by oil extraction and place liability and responsibility where liability and responsibility should be placed.

“We are simply asking through this meeting, what are the legal options available to hold these companies accountable?”

Delivering the keynote address, a specialist in Petroleum and International Law and Policy at the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Ibiba Worika, urged the Federal Government to exercise restraint in ratifying the oil companies’ assets divestment.

Worika advised the government to ensure that companies address the historical pollution and other environmental concerns in the oil-rich region before being allowed to leave because the people will be at the receiving end.

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He said, “For us here in the Niger Delta, the divestment of IOCs is something that basically we are likely going to be at the receiving end, our environment has been essentially despoiled over the years due to decades of oil and gas exploration and development and historical pollutions have never been addressed by the oil majors or the government, and unfortunately, our communities are left alone to deal with this.

“The question is, should these oil and gas majors be allowed to divest their assets and just walk away, without addressing the historical pollution and other environmental concerns?

“I don’t think that would be fair, I think that the Federal Government should exercise restraint on giving its approval so we can have a round table discussion where these concerns can truly be expressed and let’s see what it is that can be done to address these concerns.”

Worika added that should the government fail to do the needful soonest, civil society organizations in the Niger Delta would be left with no other option but to institute legal action against the Federal Government and the IOCs.

He insisted, “I have not heard of any instances where a local government area or a state government took it upon itself to sue an oil major for and on behalf of the communities. I have not seen that, but we still have them sharing the revenues from oil and gas exploration from all these communities.

“If this is not done then I fear that we may have to institute legal actions ahead of the divestment, restraining both the Federal Government and the oil companies concerned from divesting until these matters are looked into, much more approximately, and of course remediation, as well as compensation packages are arranged for the communities.”

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On his part, a former Commissioner for Environment in Bayelsa State, Iniruo Wills, said the blame for unending environmental pollution in the region should be on political leaders, such as governors, ministers and senators from the region, who he accused of abetting the pollution of the environment.

Wills, who is an environmental advocate, alleged that the political leaders have allowed the trend to continue because of pecuniary benefits.

He said, “Some of us are surprised that no state government in the Niger Delta is doing anything serious about abating the pollution in the region. So this is an opportunity to call on the individuals, I don’t like fiction or ghosts, but individuals like you and I, who are holding the offices, have the authority needed to do something.

“Some of them are in Abuja, Abuja is too far, we are in the Niger Delta, who are people in the Niger Delta that we the people have put as our gatekeepers to defend us, to defend our territories, such as the governors? So the kind of pollution and other environmental hazards that we have been singing about for 50 to 70 years are continuing, not just because of the people in Abuja or the oil companies.

“It is because somebody or people who are governors, senators, or ministers of petroleum from the Niger Delta have refused to do anything about it.

“As of this moment that we are speaking, if pollution is continuing in Rivers State, it is because Governor Siminalayi Fubara does not consider it a priority. If it is continuing in Bayelsa State, it would be because Governor Duoyi Diri does not take it as a priority.

“The day that one governor in the Niger Delta considers that this thing is a danger to his people and he is going to deploy the full weight of his executive authority and resources to deal with it, this madness will come to an end.”