Amnesty demands audit, clean-up of N’Delta pollution

Amnesty International has called for a comprehensive audit of environmental damage across the Niger Delta and stronger regulation of the oil and gas industry to address persistent pollution in the region.

The human rights organisation made the call during the presentation of a report titled Nigeria: Lifting the Lid, which it published in collaboration with a coalition of Nigerian and international environmental and human rights organisations.

Addressing journalists after the presentation in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Amnesty International Nigeria’s Director, Isa Sanusi, said the report raised concerns about alleged collusion between oil company employees and operators involved in oil bunkering and other illegal activities, which he said required further investigation.

Sanusi also urged the Federal Government to ensure a genuine clean-up of polluted communities across the Niger Delta.

He stressed that the exercise should extend beyond the ongoing clean-up in Ogoniland, Rivers State, to other parts of the region.

According to him, “We want the Nigerian government to ensure continuous and effective oversight of the fossil fuel industry.

“We want the Nigerian government to audit all environmental incidents, not only in Ogoniland but across the entire Niger Delta. If you do it only in Ogoniland without extending it to the rest of the Niger Delta, you are doing it the wrong way.

“We also want a situation where, in the near future, we will have a real, tangible clean-up of the environment,” Sanusi added.

The Amnesty International director said the organisation would soon write to the Federal Government to seek the implementation of the report’s recommendations.

He also called on fossil fuel companies operating in Nigeria to contribute to a superfund with sufficient resources to finance the clean-up of the Niger Delta to international standards.

“There is no way you can just clean one small place and think that you have done a clean-up for the whole of the Niger Delta. They deserve a good environment.

“We are also writing to the President very soon and will send him a copy of this report to ensure that he receives it and acts on it,” he added.

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Eva Pastorelli, a campaigner with ReCommon, said the report highlighted Shell’s activities in the Niger Delta over the past 60 years and the company’s responsibilities for the environmental damage.

She said the report also showed that senior Shell officials in Nigeria were aware of the situation in the region.

“Through evidence-based proof, we have shown that all levels of the company could be held responsible for not doing things or not having done things.

“So, I think this is the first chapter of what could come next regarding Shell’s responsibilities in the Delta region,” she stated.

Pastorelli said her assessment of the operations of multinational companies in the region revealed a lack of environmental justice, environmental degradation and human rights abuses, among other concerns.

She called for the companies to be held accountable and made to pay for the damage caused by their operations.

Also speaking, the Team Lead of Mideekor Environmental Development Initiative, Dr Celestine Akpobari, urged Amnesty International to investigate the divestment of multinational oil companies, particularly the transition of Shell Petroleum Development Company into Renaissance Africa Energy Company.

Akpobari said international oil companies had polluted the Niger Delta through their operations and were leaving without cleaning up the damage under the guise of divestment.

He said, “This issue of divestment is a problem. Ogoni will not be cleaned up until all other parts of the Niger Delta are cleaned up because we are linked together. Ogoni is not an island.

“Therefore, those who left under the guise of divestment must return to clean up their mess. Who are they leaving the mess for?

“So, I think Amnesty International must put its teeth into this matter. Let’s see what we can do to reverse that, clean up this mess and restore our environment so that our people can return to fishing in their communities,” he appealed.