- Don’t Allow Shell Wash It’s Hands Off the Problem
By Ayomide Joseph
Prominent human rights organization, , has reiterated its appeal to the government led by President Bola Tinubu, urging him to ensure that the impending sale of Shell’s onshore subsidiary adheres to human rights standards.
This renewed plea comes in light of Shell’s plans to divest its onshore subsidiary, with the group emphasizing the necessity for President Tinubu to prevent any exacerbation of human rights issues in the Niger Delta region resulting from the planned sale.
In a statement released via its official platform on Monday, the organization expressed concern over the prolonged impact of oil spills on the livelihoods of the Niger Delta inhabitants. The group implored President Tinubu not to allow Shell to evade responsibility for the longstanding problems and urged the Nigerian authorities to safeguard against any deterioration in human rights within the region.
“The Nigerian authorities must ensure that Shell’s planned sale of its operations in the Niger Delta does not lead to a further deterioration in human rights in a region blighted by decades of oil pollution. For decades, spills have damaged the health and livelihoods of many of the Niger Delta’s inhabitants. Shell should not be allowed to wash its hands of the problems and leave,” stated the group’s post.
Earlier reports by The New Diplomat had highlighted Shell’s intentions to sell off its onshore subsidiary.
This marks another instance where Amnesty International has called upon the Tinubu-led government to ensure that the sale respects human rights, with a previous appeal made in the lead-up to the 2023 presidential inauguration when Shell first announced its plans.
The human rights organization underscored the documented and enduring abuses resulting from oil contamination in the Niger Delta, emphasizing concerns that the proposed sale might deny affected individuals access to adequate remedy and expose many more to future abuses.
The Niger Delta region has been plagued by recurrent oil spills, with 10,463 incidents reported between 2011 and 2022, releasing a total of 507,135 barrels of oil into the environment, according to the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA). Ogoniland has historically been a focal point for oil spillage, with Shell often attributing spills to sabotage, while local communities attribute major spills to equipment failure and poorly maintained pipelines.
The ongoing pollution in Ogoniland prompted a comprehensive environmental assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2006, leading to a cleanup initiative approved by former Nigerian vice-president Yemi Osinbajo in 2016. Despite progress made in preliminary remediation activities, the cleanup effort faces a significant threat from recurrent oil spills that experts fear could jeopardize the already remediated sites and adversely impact the environment.
