Bonga oil spill: Group issues 14-day ultimatum to Shell Nigeria, demands $3.6bn compensation

A group known as Concerned Bonga Oil Spill Impacted Communities (CBOSIC), has issued a 14-day ultimatum to Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) demanding the payment of $3.6 billion as compensation for the December 2011, 40,000 barrels of oil spilled from Bonga field.

CBOSIC’s Chairman, Mr Mike Tiemo,  and the group’s Secretary, Gbigbi Andrew,  made this demand during a press briefing in Warri, Delta State.

According to the community rights group, the demand was compensation for the pollution of land, including waterways, and other environmental damage caused by the oil spill in Bonga.

They said that the oil company should meet their demands within 14 days, saying that the oil spill had negatively impacted the communities in the oil region.

The group leaders also urged SNEPCO to urgently clean up the environment, and remediate and restore their land.

“We are aware that some impacted communities and victims are in court, but CBOSIC does not believe in litigation with the Shell Group.

“We hereby demand that Shell Group pay damages and compensation of over $3.6 billion as sanctioned by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) within two weeks.

“Shell Group should also move swiftly to clean up the environment, remediate and restore our land,” they said.

The group leaders recalled that the Bonga Oil Spill on Dec. 20, 2011, destroyed the environment, aquatic, and other means of livelihood of the communities in the coastal lines of Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, and Delta states.

According to them, the concerned Bonga oil spill communities have realised how oil exploration has been destroying and polluting our environment for several decades with impunity.

They said that the affected communities would not hesitate to take legal option, if their demands were not met within the stipulated time.

According to them, oil exploration has been a curse, rather than blessings for decades to the environment and people in the Niger Delta region.

The group leaders said that from Ogoni to Escravos; Forcados and Bayelsa, the stories had been the same tales of woes in oil exploration without a human face.