NAWOJ, 12 CSOs Task Shell On Brain-damaged Youth

National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) and 12 civil society organisations, have called on international oil company, Shell, not to withdraw its financial support for the family of 17-year-old boy, Chinazam Emeka-Okolie, who is suffering from brain damage.

The groups include the Rivers State Response Team on Violence Against Women and Children (RSSTVAWC), Viva-Talk Platform (VTP), Centre for Justice, Empowerment and Development (C4J) and Behind Bars Human Right Initiative (BBHRI).

Others are Rivers Indigenous NGOs and Civil Society Network (RINGOCS), Child Protection Network (CPN), South-South/South-East Civil Society Forum (SSSECSF)and Sisters Ability and Right Support Initiative (SARSI).

Also on the list are Rainbow Watch and Development Centre (RWDC), the Voice Attorney (VA), the Peoples Advocate (PA) and the Association of Orphan and Vulnerable NGOs of Nigeria (AOVNN).

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Emeka-Okolie went in for appendicitis surgery at the Shell Clinic in Port Harcourt in 2016 when he was 10 years old but suffered brain damage thereafter, which has kept him paralysed.

The groups, in a communique issued in Port Harcourt yesterday, called on Shell to take lifetime responsibility for the health and welfare of the 17-year-old youth.

The communique, which was read by the coordinator of RSSTVAWC, Tombari Kote, also called on the oil giant to honour its core values of care, honesty, integrity and respect.

The communique reads in part: “In 2016, Chinazam, a healthy 10-year-old boy went in for an appendicitis surgery as diagnosed by Shell doctors at the Shell Clinic, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. A 30 minutes surgery turned into five hours without any information from the hospital to the parents throughout the entire ordeal. At the end of the day, Chinazam came out of the surgery with brain damage.

“This is 2023, Chinazam is now 17 years old and has been hospitalised abroad all these years. He is physically and mentally impaired as a result of the botched surgery and till today, Shell Nigeria has failed to give a report of exactly what went wrong with the surgery. The family has battled with this condition all these years which had put tremendous pressure on them physically, emotionally and mentally.

“We are using this medium to prevail on Shell to honour its core values of care, honesty, integrity and respect. According to Shell policy on health, it states that Shell is committed to pursue good and no harm to the people.

“We demand that Shell must take lifetime responsibility for the health and welfare of Chinazam Okolie. We demand that Shell must honour and adopt life care plan and stop pricing it like a commodity. Shell must make public the findings of Professor Ronke Desalu-led committee report.

“The Rivers State government and the federal government should, as a matter of urgency, mount pressure on Shell to do the needful and stop using Chinazam as a laboratory white rat.”