Shell must not go until clean-up is done, CAPPA tells FG

Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has called on the Federal Government to prevent Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) from selling its onshore oil business without addressing its historical environmental damages in Nigeria.

CAPPA made this known, yesterday, in reaction to the news of SPDC’s decision to sell its Nigerian onshore assets to a consortium of local companies for over $1.3 billion.

The organisation noted that Shell had been trying to offload its troubled onshore oil assets since 2021, and permitting it to do so would allow it to abandon its responsibility for oil spills and other environmental liabilities that destroyed communities in the Niger Delta, some of which have sparked litigations.

It argued that the company’s sudden claim that maintenance upsurge, incessant theft and increasing lawsuits were affecting its operation after years of alleged reckless exploration and disregard for the visible plight of host communities spurred more suspicion and anger, rather than sympathy.

CAPPA recalled that Shell was one of the pioneer oil companies that significantly altered the ecological landscape of the Niger Delta since the 1930s, even before independence. It also sadly observed that Shell benefited hugely from the ineptitude of state authorities and loopholes in the country’s environmental governance and policy framework.

Executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said: “The exit plan of Shell must be firmly opposed in the interest of communities that have gained nothing and lost everything from its operations over the years.

At a time historical damages, such as those committed by Shell, are increasingly being recognised and accountability demanded, it is not only important for the government to compel Shell to take responsibility for its actions but also for well-meaning Nigerians to resist the move by local entities to inherit environmental liabilities they cannot manage.”

Similarly, CAPPA’s Programme Manager, Ogunlade Olamide, noted: “The people of the Niger Delta are not prepared to add toxic legacies, relics of decaying infrastructure and more conflicts to the social imbalance and poverty that seems to be normal to them.

“The lined-up buyer, the Renaissance consortium, which comprises ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P and Waltersmith, said to be local exploration and production companies, are relatively unknown, while Petrolin, a Swiss-based trade and investment company, is feared to continue the atrocities of Shell.”

CAPPA argued that divestment by international standards should strictly follow the principle of informed, transparent and inclusive decision-making.

It suggested that the government, rather than approving all divestment calls, should enforce measures that ensure that corporations in the extractive industry not only align their operations for sustainable development but, also, take responsibility for the environmental impact of their activities.

The NGO tasked the government to conduct comprehensive asset integrity tests and thorough environmental audits of Shell’s portfolio before any divestment process is concluded.