Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) have called on the Federal Government to put the brakes on Shell Petroleum Development Company’s (SPDC) divestment plans and ensure that it pays for its environmental crimes in the Niger Delta.
This demand by the environment focused non-governmental organisation was informed by SPDC’s plans to sell its onshore facilities to a conglomerate of five domestic oil companies.
Shell was the pioneer of Nigeria’s oil and gas exploration since the 1930s, with hundreds of oil spills traced to its operations in host communities that continue to suffer the consequences of pollution to their environment, health and livelihood.
HOMEF in a statement noted that “It is pertinent that Shell owns up to its responsibility for the ecocidal damage of territories they have exploited. This means full payment for the remediation and restoration of the polluted areas as well as reparations to the host communities. They cannot walk away from the grave and irreparable harm they have caused.
“In accordance with the foregoing, we strongly condemn the attempt to sell off onshore oil assets by Shell. We demand that before selling any such assets, the company must address many cases and concerns about the ecological, health, economic, and social consequences of its operations in the Niger Delta.”
HOMEF recommended that “The federal government should immediately place a moratorium on all oil company divestment (or sale of assets) in the Niger Delta, pending the ascertaining of issues of community concern.”
The NGO added that “The Federal Government should immediately produce a framework and guide for how oil companies disengage from areas where they have operated. This guide should be developed by a multi stakeholder group including communities and civil society organisations.”
In his reaction via a statement made available to Nigerian Tribune, Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Chima Williams, faulted Shell for “trying to run away from its crimes even with the uproar that has greeted its divestment plans in affected communities and among civil society organisations.”
ERA/FoEN boss stated that, “As an organisation that has tracked the activities of multinational oil companies for decades, we insist that the decision of Shell to sell off its onshore facilities to domestic companies, with the intention of remaining in Nigeria to conduct their business offshore, is a deliberate attempt to evade the liabilities the company has incurred overtime. “
He also pointed out that Shell should not be allowed to abandon its onshore facilities to domestic companies without cleaning up the damage it caused on the environment, and the cost to locals who have been impoverished by its business activities.
“These communities who have played host to Shell for decades have been left in abject poverty, with several degrees of damages to their health and environment, while Shell explores their resources to enrich foreign coffers. Shell should not be allowed to sell off its facilities and abandon the liabilities they owe these communities,” he noted.
Williams said, “It will be shameful that the Nigerian government will value its quest for revenue, over the lives and livelihoods of the common people who have suffered from the decades long environmental pollution caused by Shell.”
He called on the President Bola Tinubu led administration to ensure that Shell’s divestment plans are accompanied by full remediation plans in their various communities of operations, and full payments of loss and damages to host communities.
He also called for a close evaluation and monitoring of Shell’s offshore operations to checkmate the scope of their activities in order avert any impending damages to the environment.
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