Around forty civil society organizations, including Amnesty International, oppose the sale of Shell’s land activities until the multinational has cleaned up the pollution left behind. In January, the Dutch-British major announced that it had reached an agreement for the sale of its Niger Delta assets for a sum of up to $2.4 billion. An open letter asking Nigerian authorities to stop this sale was published on Monday.
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The NGO signatories of this open letter ask the Nigerian government to “ refuse legal approval of the sale » of Shell’s land assets, which reached an agreement in January with the Renaissance Africa Energy consortium, which brings together four Nigerian companies and the Pétrolin company.
Amnesty International highlights shortcomings “ regulatory and legal “. Namely the absence of an environmental study and an inventory of physical assets sold, “ which should alert us to the possible state of disrepair of the oil pipelines and infrastructures responsible for numerous leaks ”, according to Amnesty.
There is a “ risk » that Shell « pockets its millions of dollars (…) and leaves the victims of pollution without recourse, and in a situation dangerous to their health », According to the NGO.
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“ The sale should only be authorized when communities have been fully consulted, the environmental pollution… fully assessed, and sufficient funds to guarantee the clean-up costs deposited by Shell », Indicates the open letter published this Monday.
Shell has already been ordered to pay 15 million euros in compensation to Nigerian farmers for oil leaks which seriously polluted three villages and thousands of fishermen are still demanding compensation from the multinational.