As the Shell Annual Shareholders Meeting begins on Tuesday 21st of May, 2024 in Greenwich Peninsula, London, United Kingdom, activists have converged on the Lagos Head Office of the Oil and Gas giant, to stage a sting rally, demanding that the Oil Company address the severe environmental and social impacts of their operations in Nigeria, particularly in the Niger Delta Region.
The rally organised by the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) and Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) expressed concern over Shell’s impending divestment from its onshore business in Nigeria, transferring assets to Renaissance, a consortium comprising five companies.
The environmental activists alleged that this move allows Shell to evade responsibility for decades of environmental degradation in the Niger Delta, where farmlands and water bodies are heavily contaminated with petroleum.
CAPPA and HOMEF criticized the planned divestment as a “shameless ploy” to offload liabilities to entities with questionable backgrounds and inadequate resources to manage the environmental aftermath.
They claim Shell’s intention to finance these buyers further exacerbates the issue, allowing the corporation to profit while evading accountability.
The groups demand that the Nigerian government enforce existing regulations to ensure Shell addresses its environmental violations before its exit. This includes conducting environmental audits, implementing compensation plans for affected communities, and decommissioning outdated and hazardous infrastructure.
They also denounced Shell’s proclaimed commitment to becoming a net-zero emissions company by 2050, describing it as a strategy to delay substantial action and deflect accountability. The activists argue that scientific evidence undermines Shell’s promises, calling them “hollow.”
According to the environmental activists, a 2023 report commissioned by the Bayelsa State government found that 90% of toxic pollution in the Niger Delta over the past fifty years originated from the operations of five international oil giants: Shell, Chevron, Eni, Total, and ExxonMobil. Despite this, Chevron continues to expand its investments in Nigeria, drawing further ire from environmental groups.
They also made the following demands: “To return dignity back to the people stripped of it, we call for the following:
1. An independent and comprehensive assessment of the environment of the entire Niger Delta.
2. An open and comprehensive health audit of the people living in extractive communities across the Niger Delta.
3. A cleanup, remediation, and restoration of all polluted and contaminated areas linked to Shell’s extractivism.
4. That Shell and Chevron be held accountable for the destruction of communities in the Niger Delta.
5. That divestment and/or expansion plans follow due process of decommissioning.
6. That the Nigerian Government’s environmental and climate change policies be weaned off unfounded corporate language, including false solutions such as Net Zero.
7. That communities are recognised as major stakeholders that must be afforded expression on matters that concern their safety and survival”
