Bonga Oil Spill Victims protest refusal of Shell to pay $3.6 billion compensation
…vow to occupy Shell Facilities in high sea
Victims of the Bonga Oil Spill on Monday protested the refusal of Shell Exploration And Production Company Ltd (SNEPCO) to pay the sum of 3.6 billion dollars damages for the oil spill that occurred December 20, 2011 in Bonga Communities, across Bayelsa and Delta States.
The protesters who marched from Elf Road, down to SPDC Main Gate at Ogunu, Warri, vowed to occupy all Shell’s platforms in the high seas if they refused to listen to their demands.
The protest followed the expiration of an earlier 14-Day ultimatum and seven days notice given to the company to address their demands.
Our Correspondent, who covered the protest, reports that the peaceful protesters, chanting solidarity songs, vowed to remain at the company’s gate, until the company meet their demands.
The protesters, carried placards with inscriptions such as: “Shell Pay the Bonga Spill Money,” “Shell Our Land is Polluted,” “Shell Group Worst of IOC’s in Nigeria,” “Shell Stop Your Evil Practice On Us,” “Shell must clean up, remediate and restore our land ,” etc.
Addressing journalists during the protest, Mr. Mike Tiemo, Chairman, Concerned Bonga Oil Spill and Impacted Communities, CBOSIC, said that the protest will continue and they shall continue to occupy Shell’s facilities and their terminals until they are answered.
“If they refused to comply with our demands, we will also continue to occupy their facilities.
“We also want to use this medium to appeal to the Federal Government to compel Shell to pay us our compensation because we are pushed to the wall and we will fight back.”
On his part, Price Hossana Jallogho-Williams, Vice Chairman of the Concerned Bonga Oil Spill and Impacted Communities, CBOSIC, lamented that SPDC has refused to pay the sum of 3.6 billion dollars and 6.5 billion dollars compensation that the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA asked Shell to pay.
He said that since the spill occurred in 2011 there was no efforts by Shell to contain or use any spill boom to contain the spill and as a result the ocean tides pushed the spill to about 120 kilometers uplands.
According to Jallogho-Williams, “All efforts to get Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC to address the situation since then has proved abortive and they are doing this with so much disrespect to us.
“We will do everything within the ambit of the law to make sure that these communities are adequately compensated.
“Today we cannot drink water in our communities because of the oil pollution. The damage done is not only affecting the economy but it’s also affecting the health of our people.
“This is why we are here today to tell the whole world that on this Bonga Oil Spill, they must pay our compensation.”
Recall that The Lead Claimant/Executive Director of Oil Spill Victims’ Vanguard, OSPIVV, Prince Harrison Jalla, has been in the forefront of the struggle since 2011 when the devastating Spill occurred.
