Group urges Shell to fix old oil installation to curb pollution

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has urged Shell to fix its old oil installation causing pollution in most Niger Delta communities.

The civil society group described Shell’s claim of deploying aerial cameras to track oil spills as a "showbiz" aimed at distracting Nigerians from their demands that the corporation replace its old and ill-maintained oil pipelines that continue leaking and polluting communities in the Niger Delta.

Media reports say the corporation’s General Manager, Igo Welii, at a media workshop in Warri on September 16, 2019, disclosed that Shell has deployed state-of-the-art high definition cameras for quick detection of and response to crude oil spills from its facilities.

The cameras, he said, will also help in tracking vandalism of SPDC joint venture assets.

Weli also said the corporation collaborates with community leaders, traditional rulers, civil society and state governments in the Niger Delta to implement several initiatives and partnerships to raise awareness on the negative impact of crude oil theft and illegal oil refining.

But, in a statement made available to Pulse by its head of media and campaign, Philip Jakpor, ERA/FoEN described the claim as “mere spin” intended to divert attention from the corporations unwillingness to address its old and leaking pipes and other infrastructure across the Niger Delta.

"We are petrified that at a time the people of the Niger Delta and the world are clamoring for Shell’s leaking pipelines that criss-cross communities to be replaced, the company is talking of aerial detection of what every eye can see," ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo said according to the statement.

Ojo pointed out that daily helicopter flights cannot be a solution to corrosive pipelines that is leaking oil due to equipment failure.

“We also observe the misleading figures of oil stolen including bunkering which Shell puts at about 11,000 barrels even when we believe the figure is over 400,000 barrels including oil bunkering”. 

He stressed that the surveillance will be more effective with real time radio frequency technologies already in use globally.

"Shell knows the way to go is to ensure that its pipelines are adequately protected, encased in concrete and buried at levels where malevolent third parties cannot easily tamper with them”.

“We are not deceived by this media hype, neither do the impacted community people and the concerned global community. The Nigerian government must compel Shell to replace its pipelines, some as old as when it commenced reckless extraction in the Niger Delta in 1956. Nothing short of this is acceptable,” he insisted.

He stressed that the surveillance would be more effective with real time radio frequency technologies already in use globally.