ENVIRONMENTAL rights activists Sunday called on visiting Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, Lilianne Ploumen, to compel Shell to comply with, and implement the United Nations (UN) Environment Programme (UNEP) recommendations for clean-up and remediation of Ogoniland.
The group, under the aegis of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) re-echoed the call following the failure of the Nigerian government to compel Shell to begin clean-up of the polluted community in Rivers State.
The group, in a statement Sunday, said Nigerians would no longer accept the argument that Shell was foot-dragging because the Nigerian government had refused to commit counterpart funds into the exercise.
According to the group, “Shell caused the havoc in Ogoniland through its operational activities and must take responsibility.
ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Godwin Uyi Ojo, said the visit of Ploumen was an opportunity to bring together the Nigerian government, Shell and the governments of The Netherlands and the United Kingdom (UK), to discuss and arrive at concrete steps for the implementation of the UNEP assessment.
Ojo urged the visiting minister to use her good office to influence the Nigerian government and Shell to invite UNEP to set up a group comprising government officials, Shell, Nigerian Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Ogoni communities representatives and representatives of all institutions and governments that will contribute funds to the Environmental Restoration Funds for Ogoniland and ensure that the structures set up by the Nigerian government are in tandem with the UNEP recommendations.
According to Ojo, “the money must be put down by Shell for the clean-up exercise. Shell being the operator should provide the $1billion initial capital for the setting up of an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoniland to show commitment to the implementation of the recommendations of the UNEP.”
He added that the Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDS), which is the parent company of the Nigerian subsidiary and superintends the sharing of the petro-euro profits made from its operations in Nigeria, should not stand back but at this point support the company with both funds and technical expertise to conduct an acceptable clean-up exercise in Ogoniland.
The ERA/FoEN boss also said that Shell should immediately start decommissioning of its abandoned facilities in Ogoniland, conduct integrity checks on its functional facilities, and bring existing facilities up to date while ensuring regular maintenance of such facilities to avoid further spillages.
“Shell should also immediately commence the clean-up of all surface land impacted sites in Ogoniland to ensure that they are cleaned up and regained within the five years which the UNEP recommended bearing in mind that three years are already wasted on lame excuses on why the clean-up has not started. Anything short of this is unacceptable,” Ojo added.
Source: GuardianNG
