CSOs Kick Over Shell Divestment Plan, Says Irresponsible Sales Plan Without Restoration Won’t Be Resisted

Coalition of Civil Society Organization in the Niger Delta region under the auspices of Kallop Humanitarian and Environmental Centre and Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, have expressed displeasure over Shell reported divestment plans.

Shell had been reported to have planned divesting its entire Nigeria joint venture portfolio from the Niger Delta on-shore and swallow waters, selling a 100 percent of their shares in Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to a consortium of investors.

The CSOs, in a statement released to newsmen on Friday, stated that any divestment being done by Shell without consultations with the oil bearing communities and addressing the issues of environmental pollution from their operations in the region, would spin doom for the region.

The groups said that the reported sale “does not not go well with us and the communities that has suffered from decades of environmental pollution, stressing that it was same way OML 34, OML 17 and OML 29 were divested without proper guidelines.

The groups, in the statement signed by Anthony Aalo, for Kallop Humanitarian and Environmental Centre and Emem Okon, representative of Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, also expressed concern that other IOC’s like Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Exxon Mobil Nigeria Limited, and Total Energy Nigeria Limited, are poised to divest all their onshore assets without engaging host communities or remediating the degraded environment and the well-being of peoples.

According to the statement, “these act shows how the IOC’s are attempting to avoid responsibility. We are passionate about the Niger Delta environment, we are also deeply concerned about the planned divestment and how it affect the local communities, the government has not established frameworks for oil company divestment that highlighted community concerns to ensure the resolution of pollution issues before the exit of all the IOC’s from the region.

“Unfortunately, IOC’s are hurriedly selling off assets and leave without addressing key environmental concerns of the communities.

“There are also indications that even Nigerian authorities has not put together a divestment policy that will address ecological devastation, environmental justice and other oil producing area concerns.

“The Niger Delta communities bears the burden of oil exploitation, facing deprivations due to environmental degradation and loss of means of livelihood.

“The ecological degradation caused by oil extraction impacted negatively on the community economic activities, leading to more hardship and increased poverty in the region.

“We are not sure of the reputations of the national companies acquiring the assets of Shell, AGIP, and Exxon Mobil.

“We therefore appeal to the government of Nigeria and make the following demands

1. Stop the divestment plans until polluted farmlands and creeks are cleaned up and means of livelihood of the people are restored by these IOC’s.

2. The divestment plan should include repairing the damage occasioned by oil pollution, an audit of the health of the people and a plan to respond to the threats posed by climate change.

3. The divestment plan should include provision for justice of the countless victims of Oil Company inspired and state sanctioned abuses, and reparations to the people of the Niger Delta for decades of expropriation for justice to prevail.