The members of Bayelsa Non Governmental Organisations Forum (BANGOF) took to the streets of Yenagoa Bayelsa state to the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) office today to express their displeasure about the divestment of SPDC investment from the Niger Delta
However, when members of BANGOF arrived the NUPRC office, they were told that there was no one to receive them.
An environmentalist Mr. Alagoa Morris expressed displeasure that “even the top management staff that are supposed to come out and address us … none of them is on seat” , adding further that “ it is very unfortunate that we came here, you can see the time is around 10am and then they are telling us that none of their top management staff arr on duty. How can Federal Government be paying for this kind of edifice , they are allegedly not on duty. Maybe it’s is part of the oil industry politics.”
On his the BANGOF chairman in his remarks said “We have done a lot, a lot is going on within thestate
“ We are waiting for the state government to take some concrete actions , implementing the recommendations of that report , while we are waiting for the state government to do so. It was necessary for BANGOF to come out and sensitize the public and pass a message to the Presidency, to NUPRC and to the National Assembly, that these divestment processes should stop immediately .
“We are not bothered about any specific cite, basically every part of the Niger Delta , it’s not only Bayelsa alone because the issue about the spillage is around the Niger Delta , the same thing that is happening in Ogoni land where the hyprep is doing some work, that level of clean up should be extended to the entire Niger Delta and not a specific portion of the Niger Delta.”
The demands of BANGOF are to immediately halt the divestment process, ensure inclusive and transparent consultation, to hold Shell and TotalEnergies accountable. To uphold the regulatory independence of NUPRC, respect the resolution of the National Assembly, ensure that new operators are vetted, create an environmental restoration fund , provide community profit sharing opportunities, mandate full disclosure resolution of all environment liabilities before divestment, include gas flaring cessation and decommissioning plans in any divestment agreement and to account for carbon emissions.
Dr. Prince Edegbuo noted that their message should be clear “ let it be clear that our message is to call on the federal government of Nigeria… to halt the divestment process whether for She’ll or TotalEnergies and other Iocs in Nigeria because we have had lessons already… I am sure you know that currently communities in the Niger Delta are beginning to demand adequate compensate and clean up in the environment that is costing shell so much, She’ll is actually running through the back door, they are not diverting.”
On his part Mr. Prince Oshodi manager CS&A NUPRC Yenagoa said” NUPRC is an ombudsman, whatever grievances the CSUs have and the communities have , we are going to address them because we have a protocol to ensure that as Nigerians we maximise the opportunities and benefits of the oil and gas resources that we have.”
He went further to state “ … recently we had an induction… to address the multiple petition that are being sent to offices in our various locations and one of this is that we see an opportunity for us to ensure that there is security in the oil and gas sector and communities.. for the communities if you have issues, kindly send your petition to the office”.
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