From Rhoda Godwin, Yenagoa
A group under the aegis of Concerned Bonga Oil Spill Impacted Communities (CBOSIC), has given a 14-day ultimatum to Shell Petroleum and Development Company (SPDC) demanding the payment of $3.6 billion as compensation for the 2011, 40,000 barrels of oil spilled along the water ways.
The.protesters drawn from some affected states Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom said they are in Yenagoa to demand immediate action on compensation and remediation of the affected environment.
Mr. Hosanna Jalogho Williams an environmentalist who led the peaceful protest yesterday made this demand while speaking to newsmen at Shell Laison office, old Assembly quarters in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state.
Williams said, the demand was compensation for the pollution of land, including waterways, and other environmental damage caused by the oil spill in Bonga, which affect three or more states along Niger Delta coastal lines.
He said that, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA and Joint Investigation has already done their investigation after which asked the SPDC to pay the compensation, so Shell should meet their demands within 14 days, saying that the oil spill had negatively impacted the communities in the oil region.
“We are here to demand that Shell Group pay damages and compensation of over $3.6 billion as ordered by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) within 14 days.
“SPDC should also clean up the environment, remediate and restore our land.
“A group of 27,800 individuals and 457 communities had been trying to sue Shell, but the recent ruling by the supreme court of the United Kingdom about the lateness of the Nigerian claimants to sue two subsidiaries of SPDC has left many victims angry and frustrated.”
Other group leaders Osuluku Gesikeme CDC Chairman, Kagbene Community and Ada Gwegwe an Activist in their remarks said that, from Ogoni to Escravos; Forcados and Bayelsa, the stories had been the same old story of oil exploration without a human face
“Its only in Nigeria that oil spill will occur, you will be hearing panky yanky stories, where as women and children die of oil pollution everyday, Shell pay the compensation.
The leaders recalled that the Bonga Oil Spill on Dec. 20, 2011, destroyed the environment, aquatic, and other means of livelihood of the communities in the coastal lines of Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, and Delta states.
They march to the Shell Liaison office with placards with inscriptions ‘Shell clean up your mess’, ‘oil multinationals must restore aquatic lives destroyed by pollution, and ‘shell pay the compensations’ etc, as a 14-day ultimatum is given to the company to respond or face a shutdown of their facilities.
Not even the heavy downpour prevented the protesters from voicing their displeasure, as group leaders also urged SPDC to urgently clean up the environment, remediate and restore these states
On behalf of the company, the head of external Security relations, Beniowei Simeon, pleads for calm while assuring them of an official response from the company.
