t has become pertinent to raise this question so as to enable us to understand clearly on whose side some of the oil majors are. Not too long ago, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, during a visit to the Niger Delta, gave a directive that all International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the region should relocate their headquarters to their states of operation as a way of dousing tension in oil-bearing communities.
As if to dare the government, reports indicate that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), which has its headquarters in Port Harcourt, is planning to relocate to Lagos, citing security concerns. Shell is one of the earliest oil companies to establish their presence in Nigeria. Beyond providing facilities to aid its oil exploration activities, it has not been able, in any commensurate way, to show appreciation to the oil, bearing communities for the massive wealth it has generated for itself in a period spanning well over five decades.
That company, in particular, is a major culprit in the environmental hazards the Niger Delta has been facing since oil was first discovered in commercial quantity at Oloibiri in present day Bayelsa State. Its criminal neglect of its host communities is essentially why the Ogoni people literally expelled it from their land.
That company, with imperialist inclinations that is motivated by profit motive only, has consistently resisted efforts by the government to get the oil companies to cooperate in the process of cleaning up the damage done in the course of their oil operations. The curious thing is that they always get away with the acts of recalcitrance they dare not exhibit elsewhere.
But we are highly enamoured by the timely intervention of the House of Representatives which has already set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the planned relocation of its headquarters to Lagos. We urge the lawmakers to, for once, make themselves useful and ensure that these buccaneers in our midst did not get away with this direct affront. Professor Osinbajo gave that directive as the Acting President with all the powers and authority that office commands. Shell must be made to realise that no matter its pretensions to indispensability in the nation’s oil and gas operations, there is a limit to the insult the country can take from it. Its headquarters must remain in the Niger Delta region or it just has to make up its mind, wind up its operations and get out of this country. Its arrogance is becoming increasingly intolerable.
Repeatedly, when there is oil spillage in the region occasioned by its irresponsible neglect of international best practices as it relates to the oil, bearing communities and what they deserve in such circumstances, Shell, regularly and insulting, merely come around with rice, salt and sugar. When it attempted that act in the Gulf of Mexico, the United States of American government compelled it to not only clean up the environment but also to pay a whopping $4 billion as compensation to the communities.
In their dealings with Nigeria, they indulge in a reprehensible swagger buoyed by a palpable belief that money talks and bullshit works, which means that they can always bribe their way through, in and around government circles. This time round, they must not be allowed to get away with this rascality of ignoring a directive from the highest office in the land. The legislators must see to it that it does not happen.
Previously, we argued and that position still holds that it is a big and inexplicable irony that those areas that are the treasure trove of the nation have not had the opportunity to, in a commensurate manner, benefit from the wealth God himself put under their feet. Sadly, while they suffer all the disadvantages associated with activities channelled towards harnessing those resources, oil and gas, what they have to show for being the sustenance of the nation’s economy is environmental degradation.
For most of these IOCs with headquarters outside the Niger Delta region, a larger percentage of the taxes they pay, and even employment opportunities, go to the state where their head office is domiciled rather than the area from which the resources is generated. What this entails is that the Niger Delta region will bear the brunt of the hardship brought about by resource exploration and exploitation while another area enjoys the benefits. That, in our view, runs against the grain of what is fair and equitable. This directive, we have reasons to believe, will address that injustice. And Shell must be forced to comply with it regardless of their political clout, real or imagined.
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Oil Majors, Friends Or Foes?
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