Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC Worldwide has vowed to pursue legal action against Shell Nigeria, in order to hold them accountable for the devastating gas explosion which occurred recently at Shell gas plant in Gbaran, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
Recall that Shell last Friday confirmed a fire that broke out at its Gbaran Ubie gas processing facility in Nigeria’s coastal Bayelsa state on Tuesday, which was eventually put out on Wednesday.
The Gbaran facility, which began operations in 2010, is one of the most important Nigeria LNG gas feedstock project, processing about 2 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day.
But IYC who strongly condemned the incident, noted that their stance for litigation reflects their commitment to advocating for the rights and well-being of the communities affected by the explosion.
The group, in a statement by its National Spokesman, Berefa Bedford Benjamin, read at a press conference in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, at the weekend, demanded urgent intervention by the oil company to contain the rate of loss of life.
Benjamin stated that they have instructed their lawyers to initiate the processes to seek justice on what he described as “the continuous rape” of our environment that leads to continuous loss of lives and properties.
He said, “We condemn in totality, the recent gas explosion allegedly owned by Shell SPDC in Bayelsa state, we demand urgent intervention by the company before more persons lose their lives. We question the sincerity of oil multinationals in their exploration activities in the Niger Delta.
“We are going to explore every legal means to put a stop to these recurrent failures of obsolete equipment in the region. Our legal team shall initiate the processes to seek justice on the continuous rape of our environment that leads to continuous loss of lives and properties.”
IYC also called on Senate President Godswill Akpabio and lawmakers from the Niger Delta region to put stringent laws to protect the environment from collapsing into oblivion due to obsolete operations by oil multinationals.
