DIVESTMENT: NDC & Rural Peoples' Assembly files Suit against SPDC Nig. Ltd., Standard Chartered Bank & AGF on behalf of pollution impacted communities interests over sales of it's onshore & shallow water assets.

The Niger Delta Congress has sponsored the filing of a suit at the Fed. High Court vacation court sitting in Port Harcourt against SPDC, Standard Chartered Bank and AGF, on behalf of pollution impacted communities of the Niger Delta region, to call for a blueprint on the proposed clean-up, remediation and rehabilitation of the communities affected by the impacts of negative oil exploration and exploitation practices by the multinational oil major over the years, with respect to the perceived intention by the company to sell-off its interests in its onshore and shallow water assets in these communities in the planned divestment announced few months ago.

The socio-political organisation which champions the course of a virile autonomous Niger Delta with economic and political autonomy speaks on behalf of the Niger Delta people and communities to demand that SPDC should take steps to assure the communities and its people about what template and timeline it has come up with in ensuring that communities whose lands were devastated by the negligent conduct of the company would be addressed before the ownership of these assets change permanently.

The suit with suit number FHC/PH/18/139/21 was filed by lawyers from A.O. ANISO & ASSOCIATES on Friday 10th September, 2021 seeking an Order of Interlocutory injunction restraining the SPDC Nig. Ltd. and its counterpart from proceeding to take further steps towards the intended divestment until its concerns are addressed and a blueprint acceptable to the impacted communities and people, is initiated and approved for the clean-up, remediation and rehabilitation of the impacted areas in the region.

The NDC argues that it was SPDC that brought chemical substances which where hitherto safely underground to the surface of the land in these various communities, and its has now negatively affected the people and the land adversely, so they are strictly liable to any claims against them, and are therefore obligated to clean-up and remediate the environment, and rehabilitate the people by providing useful means of livelihood for them, before they leave or transfer the ownership of these facilities and assets to third parties permanently. 

The group also claims that if the company leaves without providing alternatives, jobs will be lost, contracts will be terminated, compensations will be difficult to come by, and the third party investors may not understand the magnitude of challenges on ground. Thereby placing the individuals and communities in a difficult position. 

It promised that unless these fears are allayed and a blueprint to protect these communities is initiated and approved, it will do everything to ensure the divestment  exercise does not succeed and these assets are ceased. 

The National President of the group Mr. Nubari Dominic Saatah, while speaking to our correspondents stated that "the Niger Delta People are critical stakeholders in the oil and gas industry and deserve to be brought into the discussion with respect to divestment of such interests in the assets, especially the ones in their communities, even as they are also capable of owning and managing same, if SPDC fails to clean up, remediate or pay adequate compensation to them for exposing them to such magnitude of danger".

You will recall that there are several judgments in favor of several communities with respect to the continuous environmental degradation and widespread pollution in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, which have not been successfully enforced against SPDC, and most of the oil spill sites not cleaned up.