A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have called on President Bola Tinubu and National Assembly to immediately halt all divestment of oil assets initiated by oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region.
The coalition made the call in a petition titled: ‘Urgent call to halt all divestment in the Niger Delta, including Shell’s refused sale of SPDC shares’, separately sent to President Bola Tinubu dated16th December 2024 and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, dated 18th December 2024, respectively.
Briefing the press at the National Assembly, Programmes Coordinator, Social Action Nigeria, Isaac Botti and Founder of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey expressed grave concerns over the fate of millions of Nigerians impacted negatively by the exploration of crude oil across the oil producing communities as well as the environment.
He said “We are here as representatives of Nigerian society organizations, community leaders, and concerned citizens to address a grave and urgent issue that threatens not only the people of the Niger Delta but the environmental and economic interests of Nigeria and the social future of all Nigerians.
“We are, again, compelled to raise our voices against the ongoing and potentially catastrophic divestment process by International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the Niger Delta, particularly Shell’s proposed sale of its remaining shares in Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to the Renaissance consortium.
“This proposed sale and similar divestment efforts by companies like TotalEnergies would undermine national interests, as we have communicated in the past, and as the House of Representatives acknowledged”.
The programme coordinator, “A few days ago, we were alarmed to learn that President Bola Tinubu, under pressure from Shell and their home government, has ordered the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to approve Shell’s sale of its remaining shares in SPDC to the Renaissance consortium.
“Despite the NUPRC’s initial rejection of this sale based on legitimate concerns, President Tinubu appears to be moving swiftly toward approving these divestments, bypassing the valid and urgent concerns raised by the National Assembly and the Nigerian people.
“That is why we are calling on the National Assembly to prevail on President Tinubu to respect the voice of the people and halt all further IOC divestment requests until significant matters of national concern are addressed.
“The environmental consequences of decades of oil exploration in the Niger Delta are undeniable and devastating. Shell and other IOCs have left behind a legacy of pollution, oil spills, gas flaring, and environmental degradation that has poisoned the land, air, and water across the region.
“The poisoning of rivers, streams, and groundwater with dangerous levels of hydrocarbons, making drinking water sources unsafe for human consumption. Soil degradation: Continuous oil spills have rendered vast expanses of farmland infertile, exacerbating food insecurity and livelihood destruction for local farming communities.
“Oil spills have killed marine life and destroyed entire ecosystems, resulting in the loss of biodiversity that is essential for the economic and cultural survival of the Niger Delta communities. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has provided alarming figures on the extent of the contamination in the Niger Delta. In Ogoniland, UNEP showed that benzene levels were found to be 900 times higher than the safe limits set by the World Health Organisation (WHO)”.
