By Constance Meju
Amnesty International has expressed serious concern over the state of corporate accountability in oil and gas operations in the Niger Delta and, the fact that the health, wealth, and agricultural resources of the Niger Delta are taken for granted even though it hosts the economy of the country.
The international human rights body expressed these concerns at a press briefing to unveil its research finding on Shell’s divestment moves from Niger Delta onshore oil communities. The event was held in Port Harcourt on October 24.
Country director of Amnesty International, Nigeria, Isa Sanusi said the press event which, had community leaders from Bodo in Ogoni and Bille in Akuku Toru local government areas of Rivers State in attendance as well as the media and CSOs, was to, “show light on human right violations from oil extraction,” noting, that the good living standard and good environment that should be the lot of Niger Deltans, has not been in place.
Presenting the report tagged, ‘Tainted Sales,’ the outcome of research on human and environmental violations in the Niger Delta put together by Amnesty International, Mark Dummett, research, business, and human rights international director of the organization, said findings and recommendations have been discussed with the Nigerian government on Shell’s divestment as he called for compensation and justice for affected host communities.
He said Amnesty International and other civil society organizations welcome the Nigeria Upstream Regulatory Commission, NUPRC’s rejection of Shell’s move to divest its onshore activities and called for a framework on community and environmental protection as well as a guide on the capacity of in-coming operators to manage both the business and liabilities flowing from its operations.
Mark called on NUPRC to publish decisions concerning the other divestment requests approved for other IOCs.
“Along with other international civil society organizations, Amnesty International was highly concerned that Shell was trying to walk away from the Niger Delta without first cleaning up, remediating, and restoring the environment that has been so badly devastated by its operations.
“The NUPRC’s decision to halt Shell’s divestment is, therefore, a welcome one, although we do not yet know the reasons behind it. In the interests of transparency and accountability, we therefore request that the NUPRC provide more information about this decision, as well as the four other divestments that it gave the green light to.
“We also request that the government, through the NUPRC and other agencies, hugely increase efforts to better regulate the oil industry, enforce standards, and tackle the long-standing environmental and human rights issues in the Niger Delta,” Amnesty International stated.
He warned that Shell is not going to give up, as he pointed out that whatever NUPRC decides does not make conditions on the ground any better.
Mark Dummett stressed, “Shell needs to meet its own human rights commitments; Shell needs to improve highly, on how it addresses human rights In accordance with human rights due diligence as enshrined in the 2011 Human Rights Council which demands risk assessment and response to impact accordingly.”
“Government must protect rights, conduct due diligence to ensure communities are not shortchanged, human rights protected. Many things are happening in the Niger Delta but the news is not getting to the international sphere,” the business and human rights head further stated.
He called for a concerted effort to successfully drive the environmental and human rights justice cause.
Community representatives present decried the exclusion of host communities from the divestment dialogues and the silence over responsibility for remediation of the legacy environmental degradation Shell has caused in the region.
The spokesperson of the Bille Community, Ben Kpoki, Esq, contributing to the interactive session, decried the negative impact of over 50 years of Shell Extractive activities in Bille.
He said, “The people are not fully integrated but we’re scantily informed that Shell, the company the community had hosted for over 50 years, was pulling out”.
He pointed out that there were serious issues that needed to be addressed before such a move like OML 18 which he said, has serious disputes with other communities.
The lawyer also highlighted the absence of documentation and confusion over the state of the community host fund under the PIA.
Amnesty International while noting their complaints, disclosed that it would beam more attention on Niger Delta issues especially, in seriously impacted communities going forward, and called on community people to be vigilant.
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