The Niger Delta Congress (NDC) has condemned, in strongest terms, the planned divestment off the shallow waters and onshore assets in the Niger Delta by the Shell Petroleum Development Company in Nigeria.
The NDC said “the condemnation is further necessitated by the many spillages that have plagued the Niger Delta region as a result of the over six decades of Shell’s operations and its failure to carry out a proper environmental impact assessment, a holistic clean up exercise.”
In a statement issued on Monday morning by spokesman of the NDC, Barr. Ovunda C. Eni, it said, “The NDC condemns in the strongest terms the planned divestment off the shallow waters and onshore assets by the Shell Petroleum Development Company in Nigeria.
READ ALSO: https://www.thexpressng.com/2021/08/23/nigeria-set-to-deploy-5g-network-2/
“This condemnation is further necessitated by the many spillages that have plagued the Niger Delta region as a result of the over six decades of Shell’s operations and its failure to carry out a proper environmental impact assessment, a holistic clean up exercise, and compensation of affected communities and individuals within the region.
“We believe at the core of this divestment is the plan by Shell to avoid taking responsibility for the environmental carnage it has supervised in the Niger Delta since Nigeria’s independence.
“We the people of the Niger Delta hereby demand that a comprehensive audit of the environment Shell has operated in must be carried out by Shell and the Government, swiftly followed by a corresponding clean up of all areas requiring one, and compensation for the negative externalities our people have borne and will bear in the future, before any further divestment by the SPDC.
“We by this statement give Shell Petroleum Development Company an ultimatum of 7 days from this publication to retrace its steps and do the right thing for the Niger Delta Region.
“At the expiration of this 7-day ultimatum, the Niger Delta peoples through the NDC will have no further option but to take legal steps to compel the Shell Petroleum Development Company to do what is right,” the statement said.
