Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Ijaw Youths Council, IYC Worldwide, has cautioned Shell not to throw the Niger Delta region into another round of chaos and hostility following its planned onshore divestment, without recourse to local communities.
Spokesperson of IYC, Mr. Binebai Princewill, who lamented the historical neglect of host communities by Shell throughout its over six decades of oil and gas exploration in the Niger Delta, cautioned Renaissance Consortium to refrain from acquiring SPDC without proper consultation with stakeholders in the region.
Princewill who lambasted the planned sale of Shell’s onshore assets in Nigeria without inclusive participation from local communities, described the move as an insult to Niger Delta stakeholders.
He called on the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to intervene and advised against any consortium from investing resources in the buying process without proper inclusion of Ijaw indigenous companies and stakeholders.
He said, “We write to warn Renaissance Africa Energy and other similar Consortiums that has perfected plans to buy the Shell onshore assets in the Niger Delta region without recourse to stakeholders from Niger Delta region with the requisite capacity to procure such assets in line with the Local Content Act.
“We strongly advised that these consortiums stay clear of this erroneous process midwifed by Shell to further embolden the misery of the respective host communities that Shell is famous for their underdevelopment, destruction of their environment and abuse of stakeholders for over 70 years of Shell’s oil and gas exploration in the Niger Delta.
“We strongly advise the consortium and any other business entities not to waste their resources in procuring the Shell Onshore Assets in the Niger Delta, particularly in the Ijaw areas without the proper participation and inclusion of Ijaw indigenous companies and critical stakeholders in the Niger Delta region.
“The IYC Worldwide is daring Shell and its collaborators to go on with this process without involving the local people whose areas these onshore assets are located and watch the grave negative impact these will cost the oil and gas industry. The Ijaw people cannot continue to be treated as slaves by eating crumbs. Any attempt to continue to treat our people as second-class citizens in this process will meet stiff resistance by any means necessary.
“We want to for clarity state that the current move by Shell in collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria and its regulatory agencies is against the local content act of Nigeria, and we advise the office of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu to quickly swing to action by Advising His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu aright.
“We make bold to say that until our people are involved and given the first right of refusal to participate, we will advise the consortiums not to throw their money into the buying process as it will amount to a total waste of resources. Shell also insulted the Niger Delta people by stating that the reason behind the sale of their onshore assets is insecurity.”
