How to end Niger Delta crisis – SERAP

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•Armed Niger Delta militants in the creeks.

•Armed Niger Delta militants in the creeks.

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Federal Government to “stand up to powerful oil companies that have continued to abuse the human rights of the people of the Niger Delta with impunity for decades if it is to satisfactorily resolve the crisis in the region.”

Against the background of continuing crisis in the Niger Delta fuelled by the activities of the ‘Niger Delta Avengers’ who are relentlessly bombing the country’s oil infrastructure and have slashed its crude output, SERAP in a statement today by the organization’s executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni said that, “an important part of the solution to the human rights crisis is for President Muhammadu Buhari to implement the ECOWAS Court judgment which ordered the Nigerian government to punish oil companies over oil pollution and devastation in the region.”

The statement reads in part: “This government should make sure that the activities of oil companies in Nigeria bring development to the people, rather than a string of needless human rights tragedies.”

“The government of former President Goodluck Jonathan ignored the judgment and showed no political will to hold to account oil companies that have for many years continued to destroy the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people with almost absolute impunity. President Buhari shouldn’t repeat Jonathan’s mistake. He should make sure that his government adheres to this judgment without further delay.”

“Oil companies, particularly Shell, have managed to evade responsibility for far too long. And successive governments have allowed them to do so, putting profits before people. As a result, communities badly affected by oil pollution are sinking further into poverty, unable to eat the contaminated fish or drink the water, stained black from the pollution.”

“It’s also clear that oil companies wield tremendous influence over the regulatory regime that governs their …Read More

Source:: PM Newspaper