‘Compel IOCs To Implement Agreements With Niger Delta Communities’

Frontline civil society organisations, socio-cultural groups, academics, traditional rulers, and individuals in the Niger Delta region have called on the federal government to compel the international oil companies (IOC) operating in the Niger Delta region, to implement the Memoranda of Understandings (MoUs) and the Global Memoranda of Understandings (GMOUs) they reached with communities in the region before divesting.

They also called for the immediate and comprehensive audit of the entire region, which will cover environment, livelihood, health, social and economic impacts of crude oil and gas extraction in the region.

This was contained in a communique issued at the end of the second Niger Delta Alternatives Convergence, which was held in Port Harcourt, with the theme: “Looking Back and Thinking Forward: Imperatives of a New Niger Delta Agenda.”

The communique was signed by the executive director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Rev. Nnimmo Bassey and the executive director of We The People, Ken Henshaw.

It also demanded for the decommissioning of decrepit facilities, remediation of impacted places, restoration of the human and ecological damages causes by extraction activities, and reparations for the irreversible and extensive damages caused by oil extraction.

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The communique reads in part: “That the Niger Delta must move beyond talks and immediately take action, including nonviolent direct action, as well as utilizing all available legal instruments to demand justice.

“An immediate and comprehensive audit of the entire Niger Delta region. This audit should cover environmental, livelihood, health, social and economic impacts of crude oil and gas extraction, and should be immediately followed by the decommissioning of decrepit facilities, remediation of impacted places, restoration of the human and ecological damages caused by extraction activities, and reparations for the irreversible and extensive damages caused by oil extraction.

“That the federal government immediately produces a framework and guide for how oil companies disengage from areas where they have operated.

“The government must compel divesting IOCs to fulfill all outstanding Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) and Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoUs) obligations to communities and their environment before handing over assets to DOCs.

“An immediate review of the PIA by the National Assembly to do the following; Provide a definite deadline for gas flaring by oil companies and eliminate powers to permit flaring.”