Pollution: Review IOC’s Investment Process, ERA Urges N’Assembly

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Lawmakers at the National Assembly have been urged to address the environmental and human rights concerns raised by host communities of oil and gas in the Niger Delta region, as regards to the divestment plans of the international oil companies (IOC) in Nigeria.

The Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Chima Williams, made the call yesterday when he led an advocacy visit to the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Kingsley Chinda in Abuja.

A statement signed by ERA Communication Officer, Elvira Jordan, yesterday said the visit was part of the group’s efforts to ensure that oil-bearing communities in the Niger Delta are not short-changed by divesting IOCs.

According to the statement, Williams explained that “the controversy generated by the plans by Eni to sell its Nigerian subsidiary to Oando has exposed how the multinationals mine oil with reckless abandon and then leave the toxic assets for indigenous companies that refuse to shoulder their liabilities.”

The ERA boss stressed that the decision of the oil firms to leave the region without remediating oil pollution on farmlands and water systems was tantamount to sucking the juice from a fruit and leaving the chaff behind.

He said: “In virtually all the cases where IOC divestment has happened, host communities feel used and dumped, hence, a legislative intervention has become necessary.

“A public hearing is one among several approaches to address the new trend of the divestments by the multinationals, as they now see divestment plans as a way of running away from their responsibilities.”

 Williams also revealed that in the organisation’s bid to document the divestment processes from the perspective of the host communities, “ERA/FoEN has been working with host communities in Bayelsa, Rivers, Edo, and Delta among other states, articulating the demands of the people in a policy brief which also points the way forward in holding the corporations to account.”

While responding, the lawmaker representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency, Kingsley Chinda, said the IOC divestment issue is one that touches the very core of the lives of Niger Delta communities, adding that it is one of the numerous challenges caused by oil exploration activities.

 Chinda further stated that the National Assembly would be willing to hear from the affected communities, assuring them to continue to promote bills and legislation that will uplift the standard of living of Nigerians.

 The federal lawmaker also pledged his readiness to continue working with civil society and groups in the region to address the plight of host communities and the issues created by oil extraction.