Nigerians want Shell to clean up before it goes

STORY: [King Godwin Bebe-Okpabi, saying:] ‘’I’m appealing to the wonderful shareholders of Shell all over the world..."

Shell may be leaving Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta.

But communities in the region, like that of King Godwin Bebe-Okpabi, paramount ruler in Ogale, want the energy major to clean up before it goes.

"...those dividends they get from the investment in Shell is blood money."

Shell has sold its onshore assets in Nigeria to a consortium.

Over the years oil spills caused by theft, vandalism and operational issues have been costly for the company both in terms of repairs and court cases.

People in the Delta, like Ayibakuro Warder, a farmer in Bayelsa state, say decades of oil exploration have ruined farms and rivers.

She says the farmland she shares with her sister hasn't yielded any crops in years.

‘’If they leave like that without healing the soil, how do we survive? Because we depend on farming and fishing, and all the lakes and all the farms have been destroyed by crude.’’

Environmental groups like the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations are urging Nigerian authorities to ensure Shell safely dismantles its old infrastructure or pays to remove them before its exit.

Shell did not respond to requests for comment.

It has long maintained that oil spills are mostly due to oil theft and interference with pipelines.

And it said, when announcing its $2.4 billion sale, that the responsibility for dealing with the spills would pass to Renaissance, the buying consortium.

Layi Fatona, vice chairman of ND Western, one of the five companies in the consortium, did not comment directly on the issue or how much it had budgeted to clean up, but did say that the grouping would follow the country's legal requirements.

The head of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission has said that oil majors would need to show compliance with rules on decommissioning before being given consent to leave.

He did not name Shell and declined to comment on whether the oil major or other companies had complied with the rules.

Nigeria's government has indicated that it would not block the Shell deal.

Meanwhile in the Delta, it's those like fisherman Chidioma Timothy who say they've been left cleaning up.

He says he owns this lake - which he would fish or rent out - but that he has not made any money from it since an oil spill in 2019.

"I decided to enter the water to move the dirt, bit by bit, so that I can have space to do my fishing.’’

However, he says you can still detect the smell of crude oil in the air and the fish that are caught here can't be eaten.