By Ogenyi Ogenyi,Uyo
Policy Alert, a civil society organization working to promote fiscal and ecological justice in the Niger Delta, has called out two international consulting firms, S & P and Boston Consulting Group, for their partnership on divestment with the nation’s upstream oil regulator, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
In a statement endorsed by it’s Executive Director, Tijan Bolton-Akpan and made available to newsmen in Uyo yesterday, the organisation noted that the partnership and the immediate brief associated with it contradicted both companies’ avowed commitment to Environmental, Social and governance (ESG) standards.
It would be recalled that last month, the NUPRC’s Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe confirmed to newsmen that the Commission had entered a partnership wth S&P Global and BCG as consultants on the divestment process.
But in a reaction, Policy Alert that, “from both its public remarks and body language, the Commission has not hidden its impatience to rush into the divestment in a manner that prioritizes commercial interests over Environmental, Social andGovernance (ESG) standards.
“Despite the insistence by communities, civil society actors, and international stakeholders on prior consultation with communities and clear regulatory guidelines, including decommissioning and restoration, as prerequisites for any divestment, the NUPRC has gone ahead to recruit consulting firms to implement the divestment process, effectively putting the cart before the horse.
“It is impossible to reconcile the decision to take up this clearly rushed divestment brief with both companies’ stated commitmentto Environmental, Social andGovernance (ESG) standards. The socio-ecological impacts of oil and gas extraction in the Niger Delta over the last six decades have been widely documented.
“By supporting a divestment effort that does not centre the responsibility of divesting entities for decommissioning and environmental restoration, these firms are simply colluding with the regulator to provide the companies with a getaway vehicle to flee theveritable crime scene that the region has become.”
The statement observed, “that both firms have plunged headlong into this dirty brief without consultation with host communities and civil society and is indeed a red flag. It has cast a pall over their ability to ‘advance the adoption of global best practices for divestment within the Upstream Oil and Gas sector,’ the very reason they were recruited as consultants by the regulator.”
The statement further warned S&PGlobal and BCG to thread with caution on what it termed a “dirty brief” as this could make the internationally renowned firms accessories to the crime and injustice against the Niger Delta people.
