Omiete Blessing
The Federal Government has been urged to compel the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to commence full remediation and restoration of all parts of the Niger Delta region polluted during their operations before selling out their facilities and divesting from onshore oil industry in the region.
The call was made, on Wednesday, at a media parley on ‘Divestment and Environmental and Accountability: The Role of Media’, organised by the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD).
Speaking during the programme held in Port Harcourt, Chairman of CEHRD, Constance Meju, said the International Oil Company (IOC) was not ready for the divestment going by the standard of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
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She said the criteria that must be met before approvals were given for divestment must be adhere to before such movement would be made.
According to Meju, “The communities are not even aware of this divestment. The government must not fool the Niger Delta people. We are not saying that Shell should not divest, but they must restore the environment and livelihoods before divesting.
“There should be environmental impact assessment and audit of these facilities, because most of these Shell facilities are old and worn out, which is why there has been a lot of spillages”.
She added that, “The government must compel Shell to do the right thing. And Shell too should apply international best practices in their businesses here in Nigeria”.
On his part, the Coordinator of CERHD, Dr. Nabie Francis, stressed that communities over the years had been undermined by IOC, and that the Niger Delta environment has been polluted and devastated, adding that it had cost the livelihoods and the health of the people.
Said he, “The IOCs who are behind these woes are now divesting, but the question is, what about the health, degraded environment? Has there been any pre-divestment assessment? Who is buying? What about the equipment integrity? Have the communities been consulted?”
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Francis expressed the believe that “What they call divestment is actually a criminal flight”, alleging that “The company buying the shell facility is championed by a former MD of Shell”.
Speaking further on the need to engage the host communities and civil society organisations on the issue of divestment, the CEHRD Coordinator stressed “Communities must be carried along, because they are the affected people. There must be a thorough pre-divestment assessment, environmental, livelihoods and health audit.
“We are only saying that Shell shouldn’t divest without consulting the people and in consulting people, the communities must be made to understand the impact, so Shell should rise to the occasion and take responsibility of the negative impact.
“The government should play their role because their primary responsibility to protect lives and properties and not to partner with Shell to further destroy the environment. Government should x-ray the divestment process and facilitate a process that will benefit the people, until then the process should be put on halt”, Francis added.
Earlier in his presentation, Dr. Komi Wilson, explained that Shell’s divestment strategy in the region was perceived as an effort to evade accountability for the environmental harm caused by its long-term oil activities.
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The environmental expert and a lecturer with the University of Port Harcourt, stressed that “By selling its shareholding in SPDC to Nigerian firms, Shell aims to distance itself from the significant costs of cleaning up pollution and compensating affected communities”.
He said the ongoing divestment strategy was not in the interest of re-writing the wrong practices but an alleged attempt to deny and shift responsibilities to gullible investors.
In his recommendation, Dr. Komi said “Shell needs to dedicate certain percentage of its revenue to rebuild the Niger Delta in a well organised framework that cater for the environment, the welfare of the citizens and restoration of livelihood.
“Government should provide a strong regulatory framework that deters defaulter from polluting the environment. Shell divestment should be halted to provide adequate negotiation with host communities, environmental experts, civil society organisations and the relevant regulatory agencies”.