Natural Justice calls on Shell and the Nigerian Government to immediately remove the oil and the gas pipelines laid in the middle of the community that transports crude oil and gas to the Bonny export terminal and other gas utilization projects.
Natural Justice also calls on the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to ensure that the Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) is transparent, peaceful, inclusive of all community stakeholders and line with regulatory standards. Natural Justice also demands that Shell cleans up the spills and undertake proper rehabilitation of residents whose homes and farmlands are affected by the spills.
The persistent spills from this pipeline clearly shows that this is an environmental tragedy unfolding in instalments. Laying crude oil and gas pipelines in the middle of a densely populated community will one day lead to a humanitarian disaster if these pipelines are not removed now!
Shell’s planned divestment of their onshore assets makes this call even more urgent. The buyers of these assets who have been handpicked by Shell will certainly neither have the technical capacity, experience nor financial standing to manage pipelines that have suffered serious and continuing under – investment and disrepair over the last five decades. They will also not be willing to take responsibility for the environmental liabilities associated with these assets.
Damian Gbogbara, one of the community environmental justice defenders trained by Natural Justice stated that the spill was noticed on July 4, 2024 and he said the community were exasperated by the continuing spillages and “We demand a permanent solution to the incessant oil spills from this pipeline in our community, we deserve to have an environment that supports life”
For more information please contact:
Lawrence Dube
lawrence@naturaljustice.org
Phone: + 234 901 110 0563
