An NGO, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), has sued the oil major Shell in the Lagos High Court to stop them from selling their Nigerian assets to a local oil and gas company.
HEDA says Shell is responsible for 35 percent of the Niger Delta’s oil spills and accuses the oil multinational of structuring the $2.4 billion deal to avoid responsibility for its long history of pollution.
HEDA also claims that if the deal is allowed to go through, the welfare of the communities where the oil is extracted wouldn’t figure prominently in the agenda of the local companies that take over operations from Shell. This was revealed by reporter Sam Olukoya on the France 24 news channel.
Other oil majors are also looking to offload their mainland operations in Nigeria to concentrate on offshore drilling to avoid the complications with dealing with local communities and their environmental obligations. Many observers recognise that local companies will not compensate the communities for decades of environmental damage of their land and waters, that have rendered ruined their livelihoods making activities such as farming and fishing almost impossible.
