Environmental experts at a national stakeholder’s conference on the one year anniversary of the United Nations Environmental Programme have called on multinational oil companies, especially Shell Petroleum Development Company, to pay the sum of $10bn to address the problem of environmental pollution in Ogoniland.
Here is a report by PUNCH
The decision is coming barely one week after the declaration of self-government by the Ogoniland people.
They also complained that one year after the release of the report, the Federal Government and Shell had kept quiet.
They threatened to mobilise all human rights groups and the civil society to picket Shell facilities in Victoria Island, Lagos, with a view to seeking justice.
At the conference held on Saturday in Abuja with the theme, ‘UNEP report and the quest for ecological justice in Ogoniland,’ the activists also suggested drastic measures to compel government and Shell to implement the recommendations.
A United States-based Conservation Biologist, Prof. Richard Steiner, represented by a former Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (Ikorodu branch), Mr. Nurudeen Ogbara; Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, and Executive Director, African Centre for Leadership Strategy and Development, Dr. Otive Igbuzor, also accused the Federal Government of politicising the UNEP report on Ogoniland.
Steiner said, “If the Federal Government of Nigeria remains unable or unwilling to resolve these issues immediately, I respectfully reiterate my 2006 request to the United Nations that it intervene and appoint a Niger Delta Reconciliation and Restoration Commission with autonomy and authority to do so.
“The oil companies should be required to contribute an initial amount of $10bn to address the issues, with the opportunity to collect a greater amount as determined in future damages at its discretion.”
In his remarks, Bassey said it was shocking that government had failed to take the emergency actions on the UNEP report “after being warned of the grave dangers in Ogoniland caused by the activities of SPDC and their partners.”
Source: OgoniNews
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