Indigenes of Concerned Bonga Oil Spill and Impacted Communities, CBOSIC, have vowed to occupy Shell Petroleum Developed Company, SPDC platforms in the high sea, over the company’s perceived refusal to pay them $3,600,191,206.00 as damages for the spill that occurred December 20, 2011 in Bonga Communities, across Bayelsa and Delta States.
This online newspaper reports that the fresh threat by CBOSIC, was handed down today, Monday July 31, during a peaceful protest staged in front of SPDC Ogunu Operational Office in Warri, Delta State.
A Cross Section of the Protesters at SPDC gate
Photo-Grid of indigenes of CBOSIC, protesting at SPDC yard in Ogunu, Warri
The protesters, who marched from Elf Road, down to SPDC Main Gate at Ogunu, Warri, carried banners/placards with the inscriptions, such as: “Shell our land is polluted”, ” No fish in our rivers again ” “Shell, stop polluting our land”, “Shell clean up our environment”, “Shell Group Oil Defies International Best Practice-Pay Bonga oil Spill Compensation Now”, “Shell Group Worse of IOCs in Nigeria”, “Shell stop your evil practice on us” and “Shell must clean up, remediate and restore our land “.
The threat, was in furtherance of the push being championed by the Oil Spill Victims’ Vanguard, OSPIVV, which has been challenging SPDC on the matter in a UK Court.
The Lead Claimant/Executive Director of Oil Spill Victims’ Vanguard, OSPIVV, Prince Harrison Jalla, has been in the forefront of the struggle since 2011 when the devastating Spill occurred.
Speaking to newsmen during the peaceful protest, an Environmental Right Activist, Prince Hosanna Jalagho-Williams, said SPDC was liable to pay the Concerned Oil Spill Impacted Communities, CBOSIC the sum of $3.2b or $6.2b compensations.
Prince Jalogho Williams, accused SPDC of conniving with some top officials of the federal government, to reap the people of their compensation, saying they are giving SPDC 14 days from Monday July 31, to meet their demand or they will shutdown the company’s platforms in the high sea and other major operational facilities within CBOSIC in the Niger Delta.
According to him, SPDC operations, have brought health challenges to the people of the Niger Delta, resulting in “pregnant women giving birth to deformed children, due to inhaling of harmful gaseous substances.”
The Chairman of Bonga Oil Spill Impacted Communities, Mike Tiemo, vowed that the protest would continue, until they occupy SPDC platforms, saying whereas SPDC complied in similar situations in Gulf of Mexico and other American coasts, the company remains defiant when it comes to the demand by CBOSIC.
Two women in the affected communities, Comfort Yaye and Beauty Prebor, who spoke in the same vein, urged SPDC to pay the compensation or get ready for disruption of their operations.
Recall that the Concerned Bonga Oil Communities, had in a letter dated May 20, 2023 and addressed to the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, stated: “The Shell group, has been a curse for decades to the environment and people of the Niger-Delta. From Ogoni to Escravos, Forcados and Bayelsa. It has been tales of woe in oil exploration, without a human face. The Shell group has been the most detested amongst the IOCs in Nigeria and the weakest link in terms of relationship with their host communities.”
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, the apex maritime regulatory body relating to safety, security and the protection of the Nations’ Marine environment, reportedly slammed $6.5 Billion on the Shell group, as a result of the Bonga oil spill.
