The House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to halt applications for divestment by International Oil Companies including Shell and Total Energies until they meet their environmental and social obligations to the Niger Delta region.
The decision of the House was a sequel to the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by the House Minority Leader, Mr Kingsley Chinda during Thursday’s plenary.
In moving the motion, the Peoples Democratic Party lawmaker noted that independent assessments, including those by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Bayelsa State Oil and Environment Commission, have documented the catastrophic environmental and health impacts of oil exploration in the Niger Delta, including contaminated water sources, soil infertility, loss of biodiversity, and public health emergencies.
Chinda recalled that only recently, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission “Rejected Shell’s divestment application, citing failure to address environmental liabilities and concerns about the Capacity of the Renaissance Consortium to manage the assets effectively.”
According to him, “The House is aware that past divestments by IOCs, such as the sale of assets in Nembe to Aiteo, Exxon Mobil’s transfers, and ENI/AGIP’s sales to Oando, have left communities with unresolved pollution, worsened environmental degradation, and increased social unrest.”
The Rivers lawmaker also reminded his colleagues that the Nigerian Government has a duty to protect the rights and welfare of its citizens, particularly those in the Niger Delta, who have borne the brunt of environmental and social harm from oil extraction.
“The House is concerned that approving Shell’s or Total Energies’ divestment requests without addressing these historical and ongoing liabilities risks undermining Nigeria’s regulatory independence, transferring corporate responsibilities to the Nigerian state, and signaling impunity for environmental crimes.
“We are concerned that allowing IOCs to divest without accountability would jeopardise the future of the Niger Delta, undermine Nigeria’s sovereignty, and burden the Nigerian people with the economic and environmental costs of clean up.
“We believe that a comprehensive and transparent review process, including full disclosure of environmental liabilities and enforceable commitments for clean up and reparations, must precede any approval of IOC divestments.
“The House is worried that if regulatory independence is not safeguarded to uphold the rule of law and protect national interests against undue corporate and political interference, the sovereignty of the country will be threatened and citizens’ trust in the government would further diminish,” he further argued.
The House, following the adoption of the motion, urged the Federal Government to immediately “Halt all divestment processes by Shell, TotalEnergies, and other IOCs until their historical environmental and social liabilities are addressed, and ensure that no divestment proceeds without transparent consultations with Niger Delta communities and state governments.”
It also mandated the NUPRC “To enforce compliance with the PIA and reject divestment applications that fail to meet the highest standards of corporate accountability and conduct detailed assessments of new operators’ financial, technical, and environmental capacities before granting approval.”
This is just as it called for the “Establishment of an Environmental Restoration Fund, financed by IOCs, to comprehensively address the UNEP and BSOEC’s estimated $100bn in damages across the Niger Delta and introduce community profit-sharing mechanisms to ensure that host communities benefit directly from oil and gas revenues.”
