Community Issues 30-Day Ultimatum To Shell
Nembe community in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State has issued a 30-day ultimatum to Nigeria’s oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), to shut down its operations over failure to stick to the General Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) reached since last year.
This Day reports that the ultimatum was issued on Wednesday by the Chairman of the Oil and Gas Committee of the Nembe community, Chief Nengi James, after a protracted meeting between Shell officials and the community stakeholders in Yenagoa, the state capital.
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The community also warned against any attempt by Shell to sell any of its facility without due consultations with the Amanyanabo of Nembe, Chief Edmund Dakoru, as well as the people, pointing out that they (the people) should have a say in the sales of any property owned by Shell within their community.
Highly placed community leaders who graced the meeting include the alternate Chairman of the Nembe Chiefs Council, Mr. Solomon Ockiya, and Chairman of Nembe City Development Foundation and former Commissioner of Environment, Dr. Godson Omubo-Dede.
“As a community, we are giving SPDC 30 days to pay the GMoU fund accrued to the community since last year or face immediate shut down of all its facilities within our territories. They should stop using the divestment as a deliberate ploy to deny us our privileges while they are still exploring oil within the shores of our communities, we cannot be deceived,” James said.
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Meanwhile, some of the community demands include provision of portable water, electricity generating plant for Nembe Creek communities and settlements as it awaits the completion of the Independent Power Plant being installed by the oil company for the whole Kingdom, thorough clean up of oil spill sites and environmental remediation.
Source: Legit.ng
