Farmers in the oil-rich Niger Delta have condemned the approach by multinationalsonals in leaving without cleaning up their land after many years of oil exploration.
The farmers, mostly women in Rivers State have, in a fervent plea to President Bola Tinubu, asked that the federal government halt Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria’s (SPDC) and other International Oil Companies (IOCs) divestment plans until justice is served in their environment.
The farmers in a coalition of Niger Delta women, under the umbrella of KEBETKACHE Women Development and Resource Centre urged the President to press on the multinationals to include the clean up of the pollution before divesting.
The women, predominantly farmers, voice their discontent over SPDC’s decision to sell its assets to Renaissance Africa Energy without prior consultation with host communities, stakeholders and without addressing environmental concerns.
The outcry, according to them extends beyond rhetoric, as some affected farmers and fishermen in Okwuzi community in Ogba, Egbema, Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers state through their spokesperson, Uba Chineiro, demanded transparency from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources regarding SPDC’s divestment documents.
They insisted that approval for Shell, Agip and other international oil companies’ divestment should not proceed until all polluted farmlands and rivers in Onelga and the wider Niger Delta are cleaned and restored.
Expressing their concerns, Edith Onwusa said, “I cannot harvest any cassava from my farm again and I am not happy because my primary source of livelihood has been killed due to Agip exploration activities. Not only that the pollution has destroyed our water, the water is not safe for drinking again if you check our streams you will see raw crude in our water”.
Also, Elizabeth Emeji said: ” I’ve run into a massive loss as all my fish have died due to oil pollution in the swamp where I operate my fish farm, I can not catch any fish again all the fishes have died and it is affecting our community because fish is now expensive”.
The grievances deepen as families, like the Chukwures in Ibaa community in Emouha Local Government Area, recount their harrowing experiences.
PrinceWill Chukwure, the eldest son, recounted their ordeal since 2016 when their compound was found to be polluted due to leaked pipeline.
He said all appeal for compensation fell on deaf ears, saying that the family had continued to suffer from polluted water sources.
He said, “In 2016, we discovered that our well which we use for domestic activities have been polluted we discovered some black substance inside the well. In 2022, shell and their cohorts came and seal off the well, they casted the well from down to top so since 2016 we have written to the then Department of Petroleum Resources, we have written to Federal ministry of health, also to the honourable commissioner of health, and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA. They came back here in 2016 they took samples from the well and they have failed to make public the result of the investigation which we have continually demanded.
“In 2022 we were invited by NOSDRA in their office with Shell representatives and in that meeting, they asked of what we wanted and we told them that they should relocate us from an environment in which the site is polluted. But for the past two years that they said they have been carrying out their remediation process in my compound, nothing has changed, everywhere is still polluted.
“The main dug well which serves as an evidence of how bad our site is polluted has been decommissioned by Shell after removing over thirty three litres of crude oil from the said well, that has been our story.
“We have been begging them to relocate us and they have not been paying attention they are not concerned about our health, our compound is currently sitting on a keg of gun powder because even shell inscribed caution notice of no smoking and using of mobile phones at the entrance of their manifold but they have allowed my family to live in such dangerous environment.
“Our rivers, air and land are all polluted, our crops are severely destroyed and nothing is being said about it. We want government to come to our aid, we want government to bring shell to justice, this place has been polluted from 2016 till now and the evidence from the report we had is that this pollution emanated from Shell as a result of operational failure, there is a leakage from their manifold which occurred in 2015 and that leakage caused the pollution we are experiencing today.”
Meanwhile, when NewsNGR contacted an AGIP official, Mr. Ifeanyi Ehule, he declined commenting on the claims, just as the mail sent to Shell Public Relations Office was yet to be replied to at the time of filing this report.