Put people above profit, group tells oil companies

The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, (ANEEJ) had expressed dismay over the policy of multinational oil companies declaring profit at the detriment of the people.

The Executive Director of ANEEJ Rev. David Ugolor asserted this during the 2nd people’s AGM held yesterday in Abuja.

He explained that the environmental challenges, poverty, loss of livelihood and other problems created and exacerbated by the multinational oil companies in the Niger Delta, are glaring, therefore all hands must be on deck to ensure that the practice of declaring profit at the expenses of people must be stopped.

Rev. Ugolor lamented that Shell announced $42.3 billion profit for 2022, more than double its 2021 total and probably a record for any British company..

“In the same vein Exxon Mobil also reported $56 billion in annual profit, hence Nigerians must continue to challenge the preference for profit over the lives of the Niger Delta people, stressing that It should be the other way round, that is, people over profit.”

He Informed that people’s AGM that It’s another session of AGMs by oil companies as Shell, Total Energies and Exxon Mobile have scheduled their 2023 AGM for May 23rd, 26th and 31st respectively noting that this offers another opportunity to harvest the people’s position on the devastating impact of oil companies’ operation on the people’s livelihood and environment and other matters of interest.

The ANEEJ Executive Director said the people’s AGM is encouraged by the decision of the Church of England to vote against Shell’s Chair and Directors and the transition plan update during the company’s 2023 AGM.

He, however, wants the church to take a step further by divesting from Shell and other companies that are not Paris aligned, stressing that Church re-echoed its earlier announcement that it now needs to rethink its approach and focus on the demand side and not just the supply side, because it has lost confidence in the direction of the company.

“ We expect other big investors like the Norwegian Pension Fund to follow the same path and announce even tougher measures against Shell, TotalEnergies, Exxon Mobile and other big oil and gas companies during their respective AGMs holding this month

“The short-term profits cannot come before the long-term health of our planet as we completely agree with the opinion of the church that investors should explore with governments how phasing out usage of fossil fuel as quickly as possible can be achieved in line with the Paris Agreement and informed by the International Energy Agency”, Ugolor concluded.

In his remarks the Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action, Friend of the Earth Nigeria, Barrister China Williams said past governments 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.

He, however, commended Steps taken by President Muhammadu Buhari taking a bold step to implement the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, report on Ogoni land.

Barrister Williams, who is the 2022 Goldman Environmental Prize, urged the President to extend the cleanup to other parts of the Niger Delta region devastated by oil spills.

He said there is a paradigm shift in the struggle in the Niger Delta especially since the assumption of President Buhari, giving examples of the Gas Flaring Act 2018 and the Climate change the Act He called on the incoming government to build on the legacy set by the Buhari administration in respect of environmental cleanup of Ogoniland and other Niger Delta Communities which has suffered pollution from oil spills and oil well fires, to alleviate the sufferings of the people.

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