Environmental activists have rejected Shell’s divestment plans and potential exit from the country without following the due process of decommissioning. At a protest staged at Shell’s Lagos headquarters, the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) demanded that Shell, Chevron, and other major oil companies in the country commit to implementing the reclamation measures recommended by independent environmental audits and pay adequate compensation to those who have borne the brunt of their operations.
Zikora Ibeh, a Policy and Research Analyst at Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), noted that the public demands Shell clean up the residues of its activities, which have negatively impacted the people of the Niger Delta. She emphasized that the oil company must address its toxic offshore assets before divesting.
She stated that the protest, timed to coincide with the ongoing Annual Shareholders Meeting in London, serves as a notice to the company to address these issues.
In a joint statement issued by CAPPA and the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), the activists highlighted that Shell’s divestment from Nigeria does not absolve it of responsibility. They demanded the company address the environmental destruction, human rights abuses, and social injustices it has perpetrated.
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“Before its departure, Shell must commit to implementing the reclamation measures recommended by independent environmental audits and pay adequate compensation to those who have borne the brunt of its profit-driven operations. It is in this light that the Nigerian government must act responsibly and in accordance with existing measures and processes to address lingering questions around the environmental audit of the corporation’s infractions, compensation plans for affected citizens of the Niger Delta whose lives have been irreversibly impacted by Shell’s extractivism, and the terms and conditions of this divestment. This includes forcing Shell to decommission its old and toxic infrastructures scattered across the region,” the statement read.
The statement, signed by the Executive Director of HOMEF, Rev. Nnimmo Bassey, and the Executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, noted that Shell’s energy transition plan is a corporate strategy designed to delay meaningful action and deny justice to those who suffer the most from its operations.
“And it is for this reason that we are standing here today and again to remind the group’s global leadership of its obligation to Nigerians, especially vulnerable communities and people of the Niger Delta.”
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The group also demanded that the Nigerian government and governments worldwide prioritize human and environmental dignity over corporate profits, noting that nowhere is the failure of governance and corporate exploitation more apparent than in the Niger Delta.
“We demand that governments stand with the people, not profiteers. We call for the enforcement of policies that protect the common good and the political will from the government to hold big polluters accountable.”
The groups called for an independent and comprehensive assessment of the environment of the entire Niger Delta, an open and comprehensive health audit of the people living in extractive communities across the Niger Delta, and the cleanup, remediation, and restoration of all polluted and contaminated areas linked to Shell’s extractivism.
It will be recalled that British energy giant Shell Plc announced earlier this year that it is selling off its subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company Ltd (SPDC), which has operated in this country for close to a century, to a consortium of five companies: one foreign and four Nigerian-owned. The four Nigerian-owned companies are managed by former Shell managers. The consortium, known as Renaissance Africa Energy Company Ltd (RAEC), comprises ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, Waltersmith, and Petrolin.
