Exclusive: ‘Don Jazzy’ Resists Shell After Encroaching Into Pipeline Right Of Way In Delta

A man nickname, ‘Don Jazzy’ after a Nigeria’s popular musician is reportedly resisting Shell after illegally encroaching into a Shell’s right of way and a gas pipeline project site in oil rich Otumara, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, BigPen Online can authoritatively report.

‘Don Jazzy’, a flamboyant local ‘warlord’ is said to have refused all entreaty by Shell including Delta State Government to evacuate the parcel of land which was acquired many years ago by the oil multinational corporation.

Sources revealed that the said community leader who had earlier been compensated for the acquired land had refused to leave few years after Shell returned to commence the deep water gas project.

Our source disclosed that the said ‘Don Jazzy’ has gone further to erect more structures in the right of way including building a hotel ostensibly to use that as a bargain for more compensation.

Dependable sources told BigPen Online that Shell management on their second coming,  had offered the said ‘Don Jazzy’ a cheque covering the compensation for his relocation but he blatantly refused and had instigated others who had earlier collected their cheques to come back to the right of way site.

“Several years ago, Shell acquired some  parcel of land in that community for the project but work did not start immediately.  When Shell was prepared for work to begin and went to the site only to discover that it has been illegally occupied. Government officials or the leadership of the community that collected compensation from Shell earlier never raised any eyebrow.

“Shell was generous enough and magnanimously agreed to pay the new illegal occupiers “compensation” but ‘Don Jazzy’ refused to accepted any money and attempts by Shell to persuade him to move has so far failed”

Meanwhile, at a seminar for journalists in Warri on ‘Pipeline Vandalism, Health of the Environment and the Niger Delta People’, top Shell management staff who spoke including Shell General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli, who was represented by Evan Krukrubo, Shell’s Media Relations Manager, Bam Olugbenga Odugbesan, Shell’s Lead, Encroachment Management, Amaechi Ucheoma, Engr. John Okogie and SPDC West spokesperson, Michael Adande confirmed the development.

Shell’s Ucheoma who spoke on the danger of right of way encroachment, cautioned the Otumara people and others against the setting up of structures, living and doing business on oil and gas pipelines’ right of way.

According to him, by law people were supposed to stay 30 metres away from any oil and gas pipeline, regreting that some people deliberately disobeyed laws guiding the protection of pipelines to put themselves at risk while encroaching on or operating close to pipelines’ right of way.

“People ignorantly set up business structures close to pipelines’ right of way. We are appealing to the media to help us sustain the campaign against encroachment against Shell facilities.

“Apart from the danger it poses to lives and property, encroachment on oil and gas pipeline’s right of way is another form of economic sabotage, which adversely affects production.

“In the case of Otumara, ‘Don Jazzy’ has refused to move out. He has earlier moved out after collecting compensation but he returned back. Our concern is not the investment per se but safety of the people is most important to us. The conversation is on, we have also engaged the local government chairman of Warri South West LGA to see how we can get the man out of the place.

Continuing, he said: “We are also willing to pay compensation again. We have also visited Aruton where we alongside with the council chairman and community leaders identified structures in our right of way and ensure those in the structures are moved out.

He said that the right of way encroachment have persisted because local government and state government officials have are not been enforcing inspection of development site before awarding building plan approval to developers.

On some of the methods used to caution land developers of right of way site, he said: “We use signage post, right of way markers and other means to indicate the areas where our right of way facilities are located. We have surveillance task force which also escalate to us if they notice anything. We also have been carrying out awareness and engagements through town hall meetings and we have been doing this over the years.

“There are statutory requirements for this removal and 21 days excluding weekend is what the law say for people who encroached on right of way to evacuate such areas and we are keeping to that. More of these people, we understand are ignorant of the danger inherent in building in our right of way facilities so the engagement is a continuous thing and we also hope that the media will help us to enlighten the people”, he added.

Shell General Manager, External Relations,  Igo Weli, who was represented by Evan Krukrubo also spoke about Shell Social Investments Programmes which has gulped over N10billion naira for host communities in the Niger Delta region.

“Shell is also involved in various social investments in the communities they operate across the Niger Delta, particularly in the area of primary healthcare services, he said.

Fielding questions from journalists on oil spill incidents, Engr. Okojie John regretted that often times when barges and tankers are arrested, in no time the owner will successfully get them from the security agencies and return to their illegal oil business

The Shell officials asserted that pipeline vandalism which reduced in 2016 was now on the increase in the Niger Delta region, adding that illegal bunkering and crude theft accounted for 80 per cent of pipeline leaks while equipment failure is 20 per cent.

According to Shell briefing note report: “Oil spills due to crude oil theft and sabotage of facilities, as well as illegal refining cause the most environmental damage from oil and gas operations in the Niger Delta. Irrespective of cause, the SPDC JV cleans up and remediates areas affected by spills originating from its facilities.

“A key priority for Shell is to achieve the goal of no spills from its operations. No spill is acceptable and we work hard to prevent them. Regrettably, in addition to spills caused by criminal activity there were nine operational spills of more than 100 kg in volume from Shell Companies in Nigeria facilities during 2017. This number is one more than the eight spills in 2016.

“SPDC has publicly reported oil spill statistics annually since 1995 in the Shell sustainability report and this website further enhances transparency on spills in Nigeria from SPDC-JV facilities. It tracks the progress of our spill response from when we learn about the leak to when clean-up is completed and certified by Regulators.

“When a leak is identified, production is suspended and efforts made to contain any spilled oil. We regularly test our emergency spill response procedures and capability to ensure staff and contractors can respond rapidly to an incident.

“In line with government regulations, a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) team visits the spill site to establish the cause and volume of oil spilled. The team comprises representatives of SPDC, regulators, government security agencies, state governments and communities sometimes with local NGOs as observers.

“The SPDC JV cleans and remediates the area impacted by spills from its facilities, irrespective of cause. In the case of operational spills, it also pays compensation to people and communities impacted by the spill. Once clean-up and remediation are completed, the work is inspected, and if satisfactory, approved and certified by Federal Government of Nigeria regulator National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency.”