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The Vanguard for Transparent Leadership and Democracy (VATLAD) has issued a call to President Bola Tinubu, the National Assembly, all state governors of the Niger Delta region, and the Nigerian public, urging them to reject and prevent the planned sale of onshore and swamp assets by Shell, a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London.
The call comes in response to Shell Plc’s announcement of its intention to sell its 30 percent share of the NNPC, ELF, and Agip Joint Venture onshore assets in the Niger Delta region to various companies for $2.4 billion.
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Engr. Igbini Emmanuel, the National President of VATLAD, believes that Shell and other multinational oil companies are seeking to move away from their onshore and swamp fields to evade scrutiny from anti-corruption, human, and environmental rights campaigners.
Emmanuel contends that these companies are shifting their operations offshore and deep offshore, where monitoring their activities becomes challenging for campaigners. He encourages Nigerians to question the sudden preference for offshore operations, which are globally recognized as more expensive to operate with a lower profit margin compared to onshore and swamp operations.
He further asserts that the increase in crude oil theft, occurring primarily in offshore fields, undermines Shell’s claims of declining production due to theft, pipeline vandalism, unrest in host communities, and industry underinvestment.
Emmanuel challenges the notion that Shell and other multinational oil companies are entitled to any compensation for their shares of onshore and swamp assets, emphasizing that they owe Nigeria hundreds of billions of dollars.
According to Emmanuel, the companies engage in insincerity and fraud, including false declaration of crude oil quantity, deliberate inflation of project and operational costs to evade required contributions, environmental degradation, and promotion of inter-communal conflict to divide communities. He insists that Shell and other companies must fully repay their debts to Nigeria without further delay.
In conclusion, Emmanuel expresses that the move by Shell Plc to divest from onshore and swamp operations was anticipated, given the companies’ history of insincerity and fraudulent practices in their Joint Venture Agreements with Nigeria through the NNPC.
