Royal Dutch Shell Plc  .com Rotating Header Image

Bonga spill: Shell compensation not transparent, say communities

Screen Shot 2016-07-11 at 16.06.25

Some victims of the 2011 Bonga oil spill in the Niger Delta have accused Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) and Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) of underhand practices in the payment of compensation.

They said the oil firm sought to avoid its obligations by describing the spillage as a ‘mystery spill’ and afterward signed a General Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) with unauthorised representatives of the 350 impacted communities.

In a statement signed by six representatives of South Ijaw, Ekeremor and Brass Local Government Areas (LGA) they alleged that the firm convinced the unauthorised representatives that the compensation would be converted to infrastructure “with ten percentage of the infrastructure money to go to the GMoU members as administrative cost.”

They warned that this could “incite the people against the Federal Government and/or intra-ethnic violence in the Niger Delta thereby undermining the national security.

“Sometime in July 2016, Shell invited GMoU chairmen of 24 communities to sign nefarious agreements on behalf of the impacted communities, with a view that the Federal Government’s case at Abuja, will not succeed because the Federal Government is Shell’s principal with respect to the Bonga field.

“Secondly, the Federal Government agent, National oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, (NOSDRA), through a scientific report said that the Bonga spill did not impact the shores. Thirdly, money paid into the federation account may not get to the communities.

“We wish to inform the whole world that the GMoU chairmen/members are not invested with any authority to discuss land acquisition and/or oil spill compensation as well as convert compensation to infrastructure on behalf of impacted communities especially the 2011 Bonga Spill in any manner whatsoever.,” the statement said.

It added that the Accredited Representative/Attorney “of all the shoreline communities remains Gbutse Property Limited and any negotiation without the presence and/or signature of their said Attorney shall be deemed null and void, and of no effects whatsoever.”

The communities also warned that if the firm failed to follow the National Assembly’s recommendation of September 30, 2014 to commence negotiation with their Representative/Attorney, they would “definitely file a separate claim against Shell in any court of law.”

SOURCE

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comment Rules

  • Please show respect to the opinions of others no matter how seemingly far-fetched.
  • Abusive, foul language, and/or divisive comments may be deleted without notice.
  • Each blog member is allowed limited comments, as displayed above the comment box.
  • Comments must be limited to the number of words displayed above the comment box.
  • Please limit one comment after any comment posted per post.