Concerned Bonga Oil Spill Communities/Victims of Niger Delta Gives 14 Days Ultimatum To Shell , Demands $ 3.6 Billion Dollars As Compensatiion

 

By Wilson Macaulay

The Concerned Bonga Oil Spill lmpacted

Communities and Victims  of  the illfated  December 20th ,2011 Oil Spill incident in the  troubled Niger Delta region  has issued a 14 Days Ultimatum to Shell Nigeria Exploration And Production COMPANY(  SNEPCO) with a demand notice for the Oil giant to pay $3,600,191,206.00 Billion Dollars as compensation/ damages  within  14 Days  from the date of this publication

or else   things will go haywire.

  

The Concerned Bonga  Oil Spill Impacted  Communities( CBOSIC) in a tersely worded letter dated 20th May 2023, addressed to the Managing Director , Shell Nigeria Exploration And Production Company (SNEPCO ) signed by Comrade Mike J K Tiemo and Comrade Gbigbi Nelson Andrew as Chairman and Secretary respectively, made available to Daily Independent Newspaper ,stated in clear terms  during  the press release that there is no going back

on their  declaration of Ultimatum

because ,Shell the Oil giant has refused to live up to its responsibility  11 years after the  Bonga Oil Spill incident occured. 

The Bonga Oil Spill  Victims posited that the  Shell group has been a curse for decades to the environment and people of the Niger Delta from Ogoni to Escravos , Forcados and Bayelsa, they

affirmed that  the story has been the same tales of woe in oil exploration without a human face.

Speaking furher ,the aggrieved   Oil Spill Victims added with emphasis

that, the Shell group are  indeed  the most detestable amongst the IOC's  in Nigeria and they represents the weakest link  in terms of inability to mentain a robust relationdhip with their host communities.

The  Concerned Communities/ Victims which further faulted the 

Shell  group for their nonchallant  attitude towards doing nothing to amiliorate their pains and agony of the people said   they are ready to take their destinies into their hands since the Managenent of  (SNEPCO) has decided to  close  their ears to the voice of reasoning like a vex adder to their predicaments .

The CBOSIC letter of demand notice which copied, the Chief Executive,

Nigeria Updtream Petroleum Regulatory Commission,( NUPRC), the Director, DSS Bayelsa State Command, the Commander, Operation Delta State,(OPDS), the Fleet Officer Commanding

Central Naval Command ,Yenagoa,and others  to place them on red alert about  the looming danger as a result of Shell industrial rascallity reads in part ;

  " We the Concerned Bonga Oil Spill Impacted Communities affirm that , irrespective of the fact that  we are aware that some impacted communities and victims are in Court, we   do not believe in towing the path of litigation with the Shell Group because, we have carefully examined the situation and  resolved  that we are satisfied with the recommentions and santions slamed on Shell by the Petroleum Regulatory Authorities in Nigeria.

The highly aggrieved Concerned Bonga Oil Spill Impacted Communities stated  the details of their demands  as follows ;

"We are aware  and we Completely allign with the position of the National Oil Spill Detection  Regulatory Agency (NOSDRA),

an  Agency  established by the FG and   empowered by laws governing the Federal  Republic of Nigeria which  in her official  Bonga Oil Spill  report dated December 2014  ,Notification of Santtions ,after  carrying out  a thorough investigation  came up with a recommention and a resolution as the

Agency of Government charged with  respinsibility and mandate that , the Victims and Communities of the  Bonga  

Oil Spill  should be  paid  $3,600,191,206.00 Billion "

They continued in their demand notice saying : " We assert in bold

terms that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency ( NIMASA ) the apex

Maritime Regulatory Body relating to Safety, Security and the Protection of the Nation's Marine  Environment after their own humble environmental impact  assessment of the collossal effect of the damage done by the Bonga Oil Spill  recommended  a  santion/compensatiion  of $ 6:5  Billion against the Shell Group  the operator of the Bonga Oil facility,."

The statement further remarked: 

standing on the strength of the NIMASA humble position  which actually  spoke onbehalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria , we the Concerned Bonga Oil Spill lmpacted Communities  demand that Shell should pay the  $3.6 Billion Dollars  approved by NOSDRA Within the 14 Days Ultimatum or we will be constrained to close down their  facilities Within our dormains and vicinities using every available means

within the ambit of the law.

The Group also stated in their demand notice that  the Britannia Steamship insurance  Policy Number 04929000 on MT Nothia  lMO Number 6009480 and a Clandestine Shell Group FUGRO Finger Printing Report Number 336194 all supports  the claims that Shell is culpable and guilty as Charged hence

they have no moral justification to deny

the Spill victims adequate compensation.

The  Bonga Oil Spill lmpacted Communities which  further described the demand notice as unavoidable said:

"There is an  Affirmation by two United  Kingdom High Court Judges, Hon Justice Shuan , Hon Justice O'Farrel and  the Uk Supreme  Court  which held  that the Oil  Spill  from Bonga FPSO reached and impacted negatively on 

 the communities of Bayelsa and Delta states within weeks after 20th December 2011 when the   spill occured."

 Shedding more light on the atrocities

of Shell in the Niger Delta region, the Oil Spill victims  lamented saying: "We the Concerned  Bonga On Spill victims have also realized how vicious  the Shell Group has been to us,   in devastating and polluting our environment over several decades , with impunity while hiding under needless and endless ligation  to delibrately frustrate and impoverish our communities to avoid liability."

While stressing the necessity of the intended drastic action on Shell

for their insensitivity to the plight of the Spill Victims, the statement declared:

" We are taking our 

 destiny in our own hands, on that premise, we   hereby reiterate  unequivocally  that the Shell Group should pay  the  $3,600,191,206.00 as damages/ Compensatiion to us the

Concerned Bonga Oil Spill Impacted Communities as santtioned by NOSDRA 

within two weeks of this publucation ."

 The Concerned Bonga Oil Spill lmpacted Communities reminded

 the Oil giant  saying: " We stressed that there is an urgent need for Shell   to move swiftly to the Bonga field and all

the impacted Communities to carry out a remediation services in the area to restore our devastated environment

and polluted Communities which  are suffering unquantifiable hardship and agony.

 The statement further declared :"Failure for Shell  to comply to our germane demands backed by NOSDRA and NIMASA within the 14 Days of the publication of this   Ultimatum,  we shall be left with no alternative but  to shut down Shell   operations in our territory

and dormains."

In summation they asserted: " We also

wish to make it abundantly clear, that two weeks after this  press release,  today  being 25th May 2023 ,we shall  no longer allow

Shell to operate with impunity in our

territories, because for us it is time up for SNEPCO, no more business as usual, 

because from the inactions of Shell  by failing to comply up to this time, 11 years after Bonga Spill, the hand writing is clear on the wall that   the  battle line is drawn  and we are ready to take our destinies into our hands, the statement  concluded. "