…Demand Stoppage Of Pipeline Replacement Project in Ogoni
Following the renewal request by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) for Oil Mining Lease (OML11), the Ogoni Youth Federation (OYF) has called on the Federal Government not to heed to Shell’s request to operate the Ogoni oilfields as its lease expires in June 2019.
OYF also demanded the outright termination of the ongoing pipeline replacement job in Ogoniland and the destruction of Ogoni farmland by SPDC.
The youths noted that it has become worrisome that while Ogoni communities are still battling with the hazards that the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) caused and the inability of the Federal Government to quickly remediate and restore the already over-polluted Ogoni environment as recommended by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The body equally stated that it would be inhumane for Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, who is also the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources, to contemplate renewing SPDC Lease to operate in Ogoniland. OYF therefore, urged president, Muhammadu Buhari, not to try it.
The group said: “It is imperative to reiterate that SPDC remains persona non grata in Ogoniland and renewing its lease for Ogoni oil fields is capable of igniting a fresh crisis in the area.
“SPDC’s subsisting lease over OML 11, which will expire in June 2019, should be revoked upon expiration, to create room for discussions with Ogoni people, as postulated in the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR) presented to the Federal Government of Nigeria in October 1990, before it would be renewed for any Oil Prospecting Company that will win the free, prior and informed consent of the Ogoni people, as guaranteed by international law.
“OYF is shocked that against the backdrop of protest and articles, SPDC is still bulldozing Ogoni farmlands and continuing with the laying of pipelines without carrying out Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) on these areas before the pipelines are laid.
“This is a crass display of impunity against the extant laws of the country.
“We have it on good authority that SPDC is currently arming some Ogoni youth with sophisticated weapons as a means of causing divide-and-rule, to enable the company to carry out it evil bidding in the land.
“OYF urges shell to accept responsibility and apologise for its complicity in the human rights violations and murder of Ogoni people between 1993 and 1998.
“We wish to unequivocally state that our opposition to the application by SPDC for the renewal of its Oil Mining Licence in Ogoniland and is irrevocable”
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