Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC) yesterday said the
majority of United Nations Environment Progamme (UNEP) recommendations
on Ogoniland require multi-stakeholder efforts to be coordinated by the
Federal Government.The corporation, in a statement signed by its Media
Relations Manager, Mr. Precious Okolobo, maintained that three years
after the release of UNEP’s Report, SPDC has made progress in addressing
all the recommendations concerning the oil company.
Apparently reacting to an indictment by Amnesty International that
three years after a landmark UN report called for a $1 billion clean up,
neither Shell nor Nigeria had acted on the report.
“However, it is important to emphasise that neither SPDC nor any other stakeholder is in a position to implement the entirety of UNEP’s recommendations unilaterally as the UNEP report stated that treating the problem of environmental contamination within Ogoniland merely as a technical clean-up exercise would ultimately lead to failure. Ensuring long-term sustainability is a much bigger challenge – one that will require coordinated and collaborative action from all stakeholders.”
“SPDC has an activity programme in place, focused on delivering improvements in the environmental and community health situation on the ground. We continue to work with the government, communities and a number of constructive NGOs and civil society groups in the Niger Delta to accelerate progress,” the statement said.
But Amnesty International yesterday said Nigeria and Shell have done almost nothing to ease oil pollution in the Ogoni area of the Niger Delta, three years after a landmark UN Report called for a $1 billion clean up.
“Environmental devastation in Ogoniland has, for many, come to symbolise the tragedy of Nigeria’s vast oil wealth. Decades of crude production filled the pockets of powerful government officials and generated huge profits for oil majors like Shell, while corruption and spills left the people with nothing but land too polluted for farming or fishing.”
Exactly three years ago, a United Nations Environment Programme report said the area may require the world’s biggest-ever clean-up and called on the oil industry and Nigerian government to contribute $1 billion.
“Three years on and the government and Shell have done little more than set up processes that look like action but are just fig leaves for business as usual,” said Godwin Ojo of Friends of the Earth Nigeria, which partnered with Amnesty and three other groups in a new report called “Shell: No Progress”.
Shell has not pumped crude from Ogoniland since 1993, when it was forced to pull out because of unrest. Two years later, environmental activist, Ken Saro Wiwa, who had fiercely criticised Shell’s presence in Ogoniland, was executed by the regime of dictator, Sani Abacha, one of the most condemned episodes in the region’s history.
Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 after Abacha’s death, but critics say the governments elected since have done little to improve pollution in the Niger Delta.
“No matter how much evidence emerges of Shell’s bad practice, Shell has so far escaped the necessity to clean up the damage it has caused,” said Audrey Gaughran of Amnesty International. In April of 2013, Shell staff returned to Ogoniland for the first time in two decades to study how best to decommission their decaying assets in the region. The company described the move as “a key step” in complying with the UNEP Report. Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, pumping out roughly two million barrels per day.
“However, it is important to emphasise that neither SPDC nor any other stakeholder is in a position to implement the entirety of UNEP’s recommendations unilaterally as the UNEP report stated that treating the problem of environmental contamination within Ogoniland merely as a technical clean-up exercise would ultimately lead to failure. Ensuring long-term sustainability is a much bigger challenge – one that will require coordinated and collaborative action from all stakeholders.”
“SPDC has an activity programme in place, focused on delivering improvements in the environmental and community health situation on the ground. We continue to work with the government, communities and a number of constructive NGOs and civil society groups in the Niger Delta to accelerate progress,” the statement said.
But Amnesty International yesterday said Nigeria and Shell have done almost nothing to ease oil pollution in the Ogoni area of the Niger Delta, three years after a landmark UN Report called for a $1 billion clean up.
“Environmental devastation in Ogoniland has, for many, come to symbolise the tragedy of Nigeria’s vast oil wealth. Decades of crude production filled the pockets of powerful government officials and generated huge profits for oil majors like Shell, while corruption and spills left the people with nothing but land too polluted for farming or fishing.”
Exactly three years ago, a United Nations Environment Programme report said the area may require the world’s biggest-ever clean-up and called on the oil industry and Nigerian government to contribute $1 billion.
“Three years on and the government and Shell have done little more than set up processes that look like action but are just fig leaves for business as usual,” said Godwin Ojo of Friends of the Earth Nigeria, which partnered with Amnesty and three other groups in a new report called “Shell: No Progress”.
Shell has not pumped crude from Ogoniland since 1993, when it was forced to pull out because of unrest. Two years later, environmental activist, Ken Saro Wiwa, who had fiercely criticised Shell’s presence in Ogoniland, was executed by the regime of dictator, Sani Abacha, one of the most condemned episodes in the region’s history.
Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 after Abacha’s death, but critics say the governments elected since have done little to improve pollution in the Niger Delta.
“No matter how much evidence emerges of Shell’s bad practice, Shell has so far escaped the necessity to clean up the damage it has caused,” said Audrey Gaughran of Amnesty International. In April of 2013, Shell staff returned to Ogoniland for the first time in two decades to study how best to decommission their decaying assets in the region. The company described the move as “a key step” in complying with the UNEP Report. Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, pumping out roughly two million barrels per day.
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$1bn Ogoniland cleanup: Shell calls for multi-stakeholders’ approach |
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