SPECIAL REPORT CSOs demand just energy transition as major oil coys hold AGMs

By Femi Oyelola

Next week will be a busy one for the major oil companies as they will be having their Annual General Meetings, (AGM) from 23rd to 31st of May.

Information gathered revealed that Shell BP’s AGM is scheduled for May 23rd, Total Energies AGM, May 26th; and Exxon Mobil scheduled for May 31st, 2023.

However, worried by the perennial damages done in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, Civil Society Organisations working under the aegis of the Peoples’ Annual General Meeting, (PAGM), held a shadow annual meeting unlike that of the major oil companies, where profits are declared at the detriment of the people.

The PAGM, which was convened by the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, (ANEEJ), called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) Ltd, to as a matter of urgency, withdraw the operating License of Shell over its complicity in the environmental and ecological injustices ranging from divestment from onshore to offshore, leaving behind the problems it created in the Niger Delta, weakened climate change commitment for shortterm profit, and its poor human rights record in Nigeria.

In a ten-point resolution signed by the trio of the Convener and Executive Director of ANEEJ, Reverend David Ugolor; CoChair and Executive Director, Indigenous Centre for Energy and Sustainable Development, (ICESD), Legborsi Saro Pyagbara; and Co-Chair/National Coordinator, Publish What You Pay, Nigeria Campaign, Taiwo Otitolaye, after the PAGM held in Abuja and made available to newsmen in Kaduna, the group also called on international financial institutions including the World Bank, African Development Bank, and Export

•Seek end to environmental degradation

•Want credit agencies to stop financing of fossil fuel projects in Nigeria

Credit Agencies to discontinue financing fossil fuel projects in Nigeria.

The PAGM which was held ahead of Shell, Exxon Mobile and Total Energies AGMs scheduled for next week, frowned at Shell’s current weak energy transition strategy, and welcomed the recent Church of England Pensions Board’s announcement to vote against Shell’s Chair and Directors, and the transition plan during the company’s 2023 AGM.

On the on-going Cleanup of Ogoni land, the group called on the FG to appoint a substantive chairman of the Governing Council of HYPREP to ensure consistency in its leadership. “The Government, companies and other stakeholders should contribute to the remediation process by supporting the development and adoption of new technologies that can accelerate the Ogoni cleanup

“We also call on HYPREP to embark on a full-scale livelihood restoration programme for the Ogoni people,” the group demanded.

The group also called for an unbiased investigation into the remediation process in Ogoni land as well environmental and health audits of the entire Niger Delta, urging a total cleanup of the region.

The resolution further reads in part, “The Norwegian Pension Fund and other investors should follow the example of The Church of England, which has made a commitment to vote against Shell’s Chair and Directors, and the transition plan during the upcoming company’s 2023 AGM.”

While calling on the FG, particularly the incoming administration to demonstrate the political will to end gas flaring in Nigeria, the group noted that the Energy Transition Plan of oil companies should be in compliance with Paris Agreement on climate change and Climate Change Act, reflecting the perspectives of communities affected by decades of fossil fuel extraction.

The PAGM also resolved to conduct further research on the activities of oil companies operating in Kogi, Nasarawa, Gombe, and other parts of Nigeria, to promote learning and experience sharing between Niger Delta communities and other parts of Nigeria even as it vowed to undertake high-level advocacy