SEVERAL oil bearing communities across six states in the Niger Delta have renewed their demands for the payment of alleged outstanding land acquisition fees and rentals by Renaissance Africa Energy Company Ltd, formerly Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).

The affected families and communities, acting through their agents, Parsley Consults Ltd. and Emagu Nigeria Ltd., claimed they were severely shortchanged.

They alleged a discriminatory compensation system where certain communities received preferential payments leaving others with accrued shortfalls in land rentals.

The prolonged dispute, which dates back to a 2017 petition, prompted a January 2019 Senate resolution mandating the harmonisation of payments and the implementation of uniform rates.

The communities and their legal representatives claimed that despite subsequent directives in 2023 from the Attorney General of the Federation and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources advising the oil firm to comply with the Senate resolution, the communities maintain that the funds remain unpaid.

In a letter dated September 24, addressed to the Managing Director of Renaissance Africa Energy, the communities’ legal counsel, Chibuzor Obiajunwa, expressed deep concern that the continued denial of their entitlements could trigger fresh unrest in the region.

Following the collapse of several tripartite mediation efforts in 2025 and 2026 which involved the https://guardian.ng/business-services/nuprc-denies-approval-of-1-3bn-shell-renaissance-divestment-deal/, the Minister of Defence, and Operation Delta Safe, the aggrieved communities have issued a final demand through their legal representatives, House of Law Attorneys.

Part of the letter pointed that “Mediation meeting holds at Operation Delta Safe Mediation Room, JTF, Headquarters at Igbogene, Yenagoa Local Government Area, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State which ended in a stalemate.”

Appealing for a swift resolution to safeguard community welfare and protect vital oil production infrastructure, the solicitors said; “We therefore write on behalf of the oil bearing host communities of the Niger Delta to formally reiterate that our demands be met.”