THE Shell Petroleum Development Company, (SPDC), has noted with dismay that the Amnesty International did not carry out a thorough check before releasing the report that indicted it (Shell) for failing to clean up four oil spill sites in Ogoni land, which it had claimed to have cleaned up since 2011.

Shell’s General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli and Chairman of Bodo Mediation Initiative, Inemo Samiama, in an interaction with journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday, noted that proper remediation was done on the Bomu manifold oil spill site and was certified by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (Nosdra), in 2011.

Weli explained that however that some illegal oil bunkering activities in the area must have re-polluted the remediated site, insisting that the amnesty report was conflicting, especially, as it failed to produce the geographical data base of the polluted area.

He added: “SPDC sites havebeen remediated since 2011, the re-polluted site maybe what the amnesty saw and reported.  It is important to take time to get all sides of the dynamics of the situation before reporting.
“If there are re-pollution after certification and someone goes there and takes a picture and claims nothing has been done to the site, it is very wrong and a wild allegation. We are going to test the site again and if the laboratory test emphasizes the need to go back and clean up the site, we will not hesitate to do that.”

The Shell GM disclosed that “there is so much sabotage, especially the issue of illegal oil bunkering; it is only someone that has not been in Nigeria that is not aware of the huge oil bunkering going on around the country and that alone is able to cause re-contamination from spills after the remediation in 2011”.

It would be recalled that in a report last month, the Amnesty noted, “claims by Shell that it has cleaned up heavily polluted areas of the Niger delta are blatantly false”.
“The only plausible explanations for why the four sites could still be polluted, four years after UNEP found high levels of contamination at each of them, are that no remediation was carried out, or remediation was carried out but was ineffective, or that other spills have occurred since then.
“All four sites remain visibly contaminated, even though Shell says it has cleaned them. Investigation demonstrates this is due to inadequate cleanup, and not new oil spills,” the report stated.

But Shell’s spokesman, while urging the Amnesty International not to distract the firm towards achieving the objective of cleaning up the Ogoni land, said as part of its contributions towards remediating spilled sites, the firm was determined and ready to go back and carry out cleanup exercise.

The GM therefore called on the Amnesty to speak as at when the spill occurred in 2009, when it was cleaned up and certified and not speaking without proper investigation and understanding.

He lamented that the company has serious challenges in accessing some of the spilled sites for remediation, citing security threat and preference of money to the clean up exercise.

His words: “We face serious challenges and shell is frustrated too. There are problems of shut down of project sites by some community youth, misconception on the aims of the cleanup; some people prefer money to be shared instead of cleanup and remediation”.

Weli however called on government to support in driving down the objective especially, put up measures towards addressing the attitude of the people who prefer pecuniary benefits to the clean up exercise.