By Obiabin Onukwugha
An environmental body, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), has criticised the decision of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to provide $1.2billion for the buyer companies of its divested assets in the Niger Delta region.
Speaking on Thursday at a one-day training Organised by HOMEF for Eco defenders tagged: “From monitoring to Resistance: Eco Defending as Movement”, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, HOMEF’s Executive Director, Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, stressed the need to review the relationship between the government and oil companies in relation to their operations.
He argued that the buying companies do not have the capacity to bear the responsibilities and the pollution being transferred to them by the oil multinationals as a result of the divestment.
“The unfortunate situation in Nigeria is that the oil companies and the Nigerian State are working hand in hand. They are having the same kind of benefits and so regulating an active from the Nigerian government is difficult and very slow in coming.
“It requires situation where the whole relationship between the two is review. Probably now it may happen, but the oil companies have so much manipulated the government and the government stands against the people. For example, in the issue of divestment; when we say there should be no divestment without responsibility, without the company first cleaning up the mess they have caused over 70 years and pay reparations for the damage they have done, the government is more willing to just endorse the document and tell them to go, because they believe in so-called local content.
“Even Shell Petroleum Company is giving a loan to the company buying Shell. They are giving them $1.2billion for the sale. That means the company buying Shell doesn’t have money. Is a shameless transaction that is in the open and government is celebrating it. They should be held to account, “ he stated.
On his part, the Executive Director, We the People, Ken Henshaw, stressed that the federal government should hold the divesting multinationals accountable for their activities before exiting the Niger Delta region.
Henshaw said: “Part of our efforts is to call on the federal government to be more responsible about the socalled divestment of multinational oil companies. The government seems to be endorsing everything that the oil companies say. The oil companies say we are going to sell our oil assets and the Nigerian government says oh just send the papers across we are going to sign it. It is the same thing that has been happening throughout the history of our oil extraction.
“When it came to ending gas flaring, the target for ending gas flaring in this country has been shifted for a total of eight times since 1979 till now.
“What we have seen throughout the history of oil extraction in Nigeria is that the government tends to treat multinational oil companies like it’s primary citizens over and above the indigenous people of Nigeria and that is absolutely and totally wrong. Our argument is that, for once the Nigerian government needs to listen to our people and listening to our people involves necessarily taking actions to hold these companies accountable.”
It would be recalled that Shell in a statement in January this year, announced that it has “reached an agreement to sell its Nigerian onshore subsidiary, to Renaissance, a consortium of five companies comprising four exploration and production companies based in Nigeria and an international energy group, including ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, and Waltersmith, and one Geneva-based company, Petrolin, involved in exploration, production, and oil trading.
The assets on sale are estimated to be worth $2.8 billion. Initially, Shell will receive USD $1.3 billion and then a further $1.1 billion, on completion of the sale. However, Shell will provide a loan of up to USD $1.2 billion to the buyers to help them buy the stake.