Oil, gas divestment: Niger Delta communities seek transparency, inclusion

Oil producing communities in Niger Delta have called for transparency and accountability in the ongoing divestment in the oil and gas industry.

The communities’ representatives said this after a meeting in Port Harcourt where they urged the Federal Government and oil corporations to open up and ensure transparency in the ongoing oil and gas divestment scheme.

The meeting was organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) in partnership with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) with the support of the MacArthur Foundation.

Recall that in January this year, oil giant, Shell Nigeria Plc, agreed to sell its onshore oil concerns to local companies in a deal worth $1.3 billion to meet the long-term objective of divesting itself from the increasingly difficult operating environment that is characterised by rising sabotage, communal strife, oil theft and concerns of climate change global movement. The idea of divestment by International Oil Companies (IOCs) began in 2010.

The Chairman, HEDA Resource Centre, Olanrewaju Suraju, lamented that oil and gas divestment issues are riddled with issues of corruption, human rights abuses, secrecy, disguised beneficial ownership and inadequate consideration for the overall plight of host communities.

He said that corruption remains a major clog on the wheel of human and environmental development in Nigeria.

Suraju said: “Corruption occurs in a wide spectrum of our human activities, including in the democratic processes, public and corporate governance, resource ownership, allocation and distribution, including oil and gas related issues.”