Ijaw demand environmental clean-up before IOCs exit Niger Delta

Ijaw stakeholders have demanded that divesting International Oil Companies should clean up the polluted sites around the environments of their host communities in Ijaw land before pulling out of the Niger Delta.

This is because they asked the local consortiums buying up the oil assets of the IOCs to move their corporate headquarters to the region.

According to them, the Petroleum Industry Act was designed to deepen the underdevelopment of the area.

They made their position known in a communique issued after a one-day dialogue organised by the Ijaw National Congress at its national headquarters in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Friday, with the theme, ‘The imperative for paradigm shift’.

Oil giant, Shell, announced on Monday that it had agreed to sell its Nigerian onshore oil assets to Renaissance, a consortium of four Nigerian companies and one foreign firm for $2.4 billion.

Shell, which had been operating in Nigeria for over 60 years, in a statement by its London office, said with the deal, its onshore subsidiary, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, will now be operated by ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, Waltersmith, and Petrolin, a Swiss company.

The oil major, however, stated that the completion of the deal was still subject to approval by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

On Thursday, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, said it was not opposed to Shell’s sale of oil assets.

A statement signed by Nneamaka Okafor, the Special Adviser on Media and Communication to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, affirmed the government’s commitment to providing the enabling business-friendly environment in the country’s oil and gas industry.

The President of INC, Prof Benjamin Okaba, who read the communique to newsmen, noted that “very soon, Ijaw territories would become private estates of these local investors with international connections.”

He said, “The Petroleum Industry Act is anti-Ijaw in all ramifications. The NNPC has been privatised by the Federal Government, and the International Oil Companies are divesting their oil assets around Ijaw land with local consortiums buying up shares.

“However, before the IOCs are allowed to pull out, they should be made to clean up the environmental mess they have created. The new investors should relocate their headquarters to Ijaw territories where they have their oil facilities.”

Okaba said the Ijaw people would set up a think-tank to examine every aspect of their existence and provide strategic templates for the collective growth and development of the Ijaw nation.

He added, “Despite contributing over 60 per cent to oil and gas production, which is the country’s main source of economic survival, there are no major infrastructures across Ijaw land. For instance, the East-West Road that traverses Ijaw land is still deplorable and impassable, and several Ijaw communities remain inaccessible by road.

“Also, port facilities in Warri, Sapele, Port Harcourt, etc, that were hitherto economically viable are no longer in use. Proposed seaports at Agge and other towns in Ijaw territories are yet to exponentially impact the economic climate of Ijaw land. We also lack energy infrastructure and other drivers of social, economic and technological advancement.

“We are unhappy with lopsided political appointments at the federal level. We reject the deliberate Balkanisation of Ijaw territories into minorities to deny us the socio-economic and political advantages that are associated with majority status. We are resolute on this.”