By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
Policy Alert, an NGO working to promote economic and ecological justice in the Niger Delta and other resource-rich regions in West Africa, has applauded the decision of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to reject Shell’s proposed asset sale to the Renaissance Group.
The organisation’s Executive Director, Tijah Bolton-Akpan, spoke in Abuja on the sidelines of the International Conference on Petroleum Pollution and Just Transition in the Niger Delta, organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and Social Action.
The highlight of the conference was the unveiling of the report, “An Environmental Genocide: Counting the Human and Environmental Cost of Oil in Bayelsa, Nigeria” by the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission.
“The environmental genocide in Bayelsa State as documented in the report being unveiled today calls for urgent national and international attention. The report is an indictment on the oil multinationals, especially Shell Petroleum Development Company and its subsidiaries which has the largest footprint in the toxic social and ecological legacy that extraction has left on Bayelsa State”.
Bolton-Akpan said the report also lends weight to Policy Alert’s calls for stringent oversight and stronger safeguards for communities and the environment in the face of rampant sale of assets by multinational oil corporations.
“That is why we must commend the recent decision of the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to reject Shell’s proposed sale of its offshore subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), to Renaissance Group. Approving the transaction would have amounted to an injustice to the oil-producing communities in Bayelsa and elsewhere that have suffered immeasurable harms from Shell’s oil and gas operations for more than six decades,” Bolton-Akpan said.
Policy Alert further urged the nation’s upstream regulator to allow a comprehensive, independent third-party review of the recently approved ExxonMobil-Seplat divestment deal.
“The Bayelsa situation also brings into bold relief the huge surface area of oil-induced social and ecological devastation across the Niger Delta. We therefore express deep concern over the recent approval of the ExxonMobil-Seplat divestment deal. Oil multinationals cannot be allowed to continue evading responsibility for the ecological and social injustices inflicted upon our communities and the environment”, Bolton-Akpan added.
“The preconditions for the transfer of assets must go beyond financial capability. Addressing legacy harms on local communities and the environment as well as responsible decommissioning and abandonment must be prioritised.
“The Nigerian state and international stakeholders must rise to the urgent challenge of cleaning up Bayelsa. We also take this opportunity to call for a comprehensive, independent third-party review of all recent divestment decisions affecting Bayelsa and other parts of the Niger Delta. We must ensure that the responsibility to address legacy grievances, including restoration of social and ecological damage caused by the seller entities, are not transferred to incapable buyers who will only end up worsening an already terrible situation.”
