People from the Niger Delta area, environmental activists, representatives of host oil and gas towns, human rights groups, students, youths, artisans, and media practitioners who make up the abroad based coalition of Civil Societies organisation, marched at the British Oil and Gas Company, Shell PLC, Marina, in Lagos, on Monday.
The CSOs demanded that Shell stop extracting oil and gas in Nigeria, and encouraged investors to stop funding the company’s operations because of the alleged environmental damage that the company’s operations were bringing to Nigeria’s water, land, and human resources.
They also requested, among other things, that global warming be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and that carbon emissions be eliminated. They also demanded a people-centered transition from fossil fuel to clean energy in Nigeria, as well as the cleanup of Ogoni land and the broader Niger Delta region.
The alliance, led by the Africa Network for Environmental and Economic Justice, issued a resolution to Shell’s AGM on May 24, 2022, during a people’s Annual General Meeting, a shadow CSOs AGM. The Convener, Rev. David Ugolor, and Co-Chairmen, Legborsi Pyagbara and Taiwo Otitolaye, signed the AGM resolutions, which stated:
“Nigerian oil-bearing communities and citizens who are the victims of Shell and other International Oil and Gas Companies have voted an emphatic “NO” to shell’s Energy Transition Strategy.
“The Church of England and other investors should stop lending moral and financial support to shell and should vote against Shell’s energy transition strategy at the May 24, 2022, AGM.
“We call on the investors to immediately embark on a Fact-Finding Mission in collaboration with civil society actors to ascertain the true situation of Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
“Shell should go back to the drawing board and revise the 2021 energy transition strategy to align with the Paris Agreement of limiting the increase in the average global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.“
“Given the inherent dangers of any further investment to the attainment of net-zero target poses, Shell should immediately commence a process of winding down the process of further exploration of fossil fuel in Nigeria. Increasing investment in oil and gas as evidenced in its current strategy must cease.
“Shell should cut down emission at source rather than targeting nature-based solution.
“Key stakeholders driving the cleanup of Ogoni land should do the needful to remove the impediments to actualizing the smooth implementation of the recommendation of the United Nations Environment Programme report.
“We call on Shell’s AGM to commit to a comprehensive cleanup of the entire Niger Delta.”
