Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has urged the Federal Government to stop Shell Petroleum Development Company’s (SPDC) divestment plans and ensure it pays for its environmental crimes in the Niger Delta.

The organisation made the demand, following plans by SPDC to sell its onshore facilities to a conglomerate of five domestic oil companies.

Recall that 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 bear the consequences of pollution to their environment, health and livelihood.

In a statement signed by the organisation’s Communication Officer, Elvira Jordan, and Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Chima Williams, the body faulted Shell for trying to evade its crimes even with the uproar that has greeted its divestment plans.

Williams said: “As an organisation that has tracked activities of multinational oil companies for decades, we insist that the decision of Shell to sell off its onshore facilities to domestic companies, intending to remain in Nigeria to conduct their business offshore, is a deliberate attempt to evade liabilities the company has incurred over time.”