By John Ikani
The Niger Delta Congress (NDC) has given Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) an ultimatum to fix the many spillages that have plagued the region.
The NDC in a statement issued by its spokesman, Ovunda Eni on Monday regretted that the region has suffered six decades of degradation over Shell’s “failure” to carry out a proper environmental impact assessment, a holistic clean up exercise, and compensation of affected communities and individuals.
It also condemned the planned divestment off the shallow waters and onshore assets by the SPDC.
“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,” he noted.
While demanding that a comprehensive audit of areas Shell has operated be carried out with the government, followed by a corresponding clean-up of all affected environment, NDC said there must be adequate recompense “for the negative externalities our people have borne and will bear in the future, before any further divestment by the SPDC”.
The body issued a 7-day ultimatum to the oil giant to “retrace its steps and do the right thing for the Niger Delta region”.
NDC further warned that failure to comply will cause them to take legal steps against Shell.
