A Civil society of organisation has demanded that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) redresses infractions in the Niger Delta before it thinks of selling its assets in Nigeria.
Wondering who is going to clean the mess left by Shell, as it prepares to exit the country, Spaces for Change (S4C) joins environmentally-devastated host communities to demand that the oil multi-national addresses issues such as clean-up of devastated Niger Delta communities impacted by its activities before it exits.
On January 16, 2024, Shell announced plans to sell off a large chunk of its onshore assets in the Niger Delta region to a consortium of companies in a deal worth $2.4 billion.
Its oil operations in the Niger Delta for more than five decades caused extensive pollution, contamination of water sources, environmental degradation, monumental destruction of traditional livelihoods and large-scale human suffering across communities in the region.
Executive Director of S4C, Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, stated, yesterday: “Consistent with its business practices in the past that is well documented, Shell had steadily blamed third parties/sabotage for persistent oil leaks, blowout and fires, avoided compensation to impacted households and communities, flared gas with impunity and dodged clean-ups from oil spillage.
“Although the full details of the deal between SPDC and the consortium have not been made public, it is very unlikely that robust arrangements have been made to redress these environmental injustices. It is also unlikely that a new business venture will agree to take over the humongous liabilities resulting from Shell’s business operations in the region.”
According to her, selling off its onshore business while the enormous harm caused by the same business operations persists is a very bad practice that rises to the level of corporate irresponsibility.
S4C called on the Federal Government to immediately take steps to protect the rights of host communities across the Niger Delta, whose rights have been battered over the years with impunity.
It added: “The damage caused by Shell’s business operations is the subject of several lawsuits pending in courts all over the world. A litany of judicial proclamations by national, regional and foreign courts has ordered Shell to pay restitution, all to no avail.
“Courts have held that Shell’s business operations violated communities’ rights to life, human dignity, a healthy environment, and a standard of living as constitutionally guaranteed by sections 11, 20, 33, and 34 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, and reinforced by Articles 4, 16, and 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).”
