By Paul Effiong, Abuja
House of Representatives has urged the federal government to immediately halt all divestment processes by Shell, TotalEnergies and other International Oil Companies, JOCs, until their historical environmental and social liabilities are addressed, and ensure that no divestment proceeds without transparent consultations with Niger Delta communities and state governments.
The House also mandated NUPRC to begin the process of enforcing compliance with the Petroleum Industrialisation Act, PIA, and reject divestment applications that fail to meet the highest standards of corporate accountability and conduct detailed assessments of new operators’ financial, technical and environmental capacities before granting approval.
It called for the establishment of an Environmental Restoration Fund financed by international oil companies to comprehensively address UNEP and BSOEC’s estimated $100 billion in damages across the Niger Delta and introduce community profit-sharing mechanisms to ensure that host communities benefit directly from oil and gas revenues.
The directive followed a motion moved during plenary yesterday by the Minority Leader of the House, Kingsley Chinda.
In his presentation, Chinda expressed concern that approving Shell or Total Energies divestment requests without addressing lingering historical and ongoing liabilities risk undermining Nigeria’s regulatory independence by transferring corporate responsibilities to the Nigerian state, as well as signaling impunity for environmental crimes.
