By Ola Kay
A group of activists under the aegis of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, in conjunction with Health of Mother Earth Foundation, HOMEF have called the Anglo-Dutch oil company, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited ,SPDC, to ensure the clean up of communities it allegedly polluted before its exit from oil exploration activities in the country, most especially in the Niger Delta region.
The coalition of activists which protested on the streets of Lagos and at the corporate head office of the oil company to press home their demand, noted that given the fact that, the Shell exploration oil company had concluded plans to leave the shores of Nigeria, it had become imperative for the entity to address the issues of environmental pollution.
Speaking on the development, the Executive Director, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, stated that, “While the entire leadership of Shell, including its chairman, board members, directors, and stakeholders, convenes today in the United Kingdom for its Annual General Meeting, AGM, we gather here in front of its Lagos Head Office in Nigeria to restate our long standing grievances.
“Indeed, Shell’s shareholders would rather choose the comfort of the Intercontinental London Hotel, to review their deceitful and environmental devastation strategies without any regard for the dignity and sanity of people who are at the receiving end of their hazardous operations.
“They would rather the cozy ambiance of artificial nature than care about the growing impact and problems their reckless oil extraction inflicts upon vulnerable communities in Africa and elsewhere.
“In Nigeria, the absurdity reaches new heights as Shell sets to divest its onshore business and offload its toxic assets to Renaissance, a consortium of five companies, including four local exploration and production entities and an international energy group.
“This polluting corporation, after decades of mindless operations in the country’s Niger Delta region, is about to flee from its atrocities, leaving behind a wake of destruction, of farmlands and water bodies now contaminated with huge deposits of petroleum and of poor communities, livelihoods, and public health wrecked by years of its merciless extractive onslaught.“Additionally, Shell allegedly intends to provide a loan to these buyers to help them purchase the same assets. This shameless ploy to offload liabilities while continuing to profit from the transaction reveals the depth of Shell’s exploitation and the lengths it will go to maintain its stranglehold on Nigeria’s resources while evading accountability.”
Venting the grievances of his group, the Executive Director of HOMEF, Rev. Nnimmo Bassey, said: “We want an independent and comprehensive assessment of the environment of the entire Niger Delta and an open and comprehensive health audit of the people living in extractive communities across the Niger Delta.
“We want a cleanup, remediation, and restoration of all polluted and contaminated areas linked to Shell’s extractivism and that Shell and Chevron should be held accountable for the destruction of communities in the Niger Delta, among others.”
It would be recalled that the Anglo-Dutch company has earlier announced it’s intention in January to quit its onshore and shallow water operations in the Niger Delta region as well as sell its Nigerian subsidiary to Renaissance, a consortium of five mainly local firms.
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