Divestment: Give Right Of First Refusal To Indigenous Firms – Group Urges Shell

A group, the Forum Against Niger Delta Exploitation (FANDE), has advised multinational oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), to give a first right of refusal to divest some of its onshore assets to indigenous oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region.

The group, which is led by incarcerated Niger Delta activist, Henry Okah, listed some of the indigenous companies to include; Century Energy, Fenog Nigeria Limited, Belema Oil Producing Limited and several others that have their operational bases where the SPDC’s assets are situated in the region.

FANDE, in a statement made available to LEADERSHIP in Port Harcourt yesterday, alleged that the SPDC’s assets, which are valued at $2.8Billion and are to be sold to Renaissance, a Consortium of four Nigerian firms and one foreign company namely – ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, Waltersmith and Petrolin.

The statement, which was signed by spokesman of the group, General Gboloko, warned that failure to heed to its demand would be viewed as an invitation to anarchy.

It reads in part: “The Forum Against Niger Delta Exploitation received the news of the planned sale of all Onshore Oil Assets of Shell Petroleum Development Company – SPDC in Nigeria with mixed feelings.

“To this end, the Forum Against Niger Delta Exploitation will resist with its last drop of blood further moves by Shell or any other Oil Multinational to continue the trend of exploiting and enslaving our people or the degradation of our territories without any tangible benefits, infrastructural or human capital development of the Niger Delta people and communities.

“We have decided to take our destiny into our hands, as we have been pushed to the wall and are left with no other choice since successive governments and our representatives have proven to careless about the wellbeing of the citizens.

“We therefore resolve as follows: that we shall not sit and fold our alms to allow Shell sell off all of its oil assets within the Niger Delta territory to their cronies in the name of a certain consortium of five companies, leaving the host communities as the biggest losers after years of suffering from impact of environmental degradation, unemployment, poor or no infrastructure and others.

“That Shell should give a first right of refusal to divest some of its assets to indigenous firms whose operational bases are within the catchment areas where the SPDC’s assets are situated in the Niger Delta.

“Some of the indigenous firms are: Century Energy, Fenog Nigeria Limited, Belema Oil Producing Limited, and any other indigenous firm which have proven themselves fit to earn the trust of their host communities and are qualified to handle these facilities and convert same for the economic benefits and transformation of the areas.

“That the Niger Delta people will no longer accept being treated as second class citizens where our areas would only be good enough for operational bases for oil exploration activities, degradation of our environments without any tangible benefits to our people, while the corporate headquarters of the firms would be taken out of the shores of the Niger Delta territory.

“That failure to heed to our demand would be viewed as an invitation to anarchy, as we shall make sure that none of the so-called companies under the consortium that make up ‘Renaissance’ would be allowed entry into any part of the Niger Delta territory to commence oil exploration activities.

“That this is not an empty threat as the Forum Against Niger Delta Exploitation led by our Supreme Leader, Henry Okah shall match words with action; and this time, shall not operate in the outdated patterns of just destroying oil installations, but shall come after all those behind these evil machinations against the Niger Delta people, be they top hierarchy of Shell Nigeria, government officials or powerful individuals from the local, state and federal government levels.

“Be warned, because this time, Shell’s usual divide and rule tactics shall not work. Their lives, that of their families and investments shall no longer be safe upon failure to do the right thing. A stitch in time saves nine.”