Residents of Odimodi and other communities around Ramos Rivers and tributaries in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State and others in Bayelsa State are again spoiling for a fight with Anglo-Dutch Shell Petroleum Development Company. This time, the bone of contention, reports SOUTHSOUTH REGIONAL EDITOR, SHOLA O’NEIL, is nonpayment of compensation for devastations wreaked by the May 17, 2018 crude oil spill from the company’s 24″ Trans-Ramos Pipeline.
The relationship between Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and some of its host communities in Burutu area of Delta State has been strained by incidents of spills, compensation (non-)payment and other disagreements in recent times. The tie between the parties is akin to that between the famous Tom and Jerry in Cat and Mouse TV show.
The no-love-lost affair took a dangerous detour on May 17, last year, when communities reported that the Trans-Ramos Pipeline of the multinational oil company located in the swamp of Western part of the Niger Delta, ruptured, pouring over 1,000 barrels of crude oil into the river and creeks, much to the angst of the host communities, that already experience hardship from the effect of crude oil exploration and exploitation.
For some of the affected communities, there is respite in the form of relief materials and moves by Shell to pay compensation. Yet, there are dozen others who are still at daggers drawn with the oil giant over their alleged neglect and ‘deliberate plot to evade responsibility’.
Ironically, the 100,000bpd TRP spill of May 17 is one which cause was mostly agreed by the polluter and those affected. Usually, communities and Shell bicker over whether crude oil spillages result from equipment failure or ‘third party’ intervention–a loose term that could mean vandalism or theft or a dozen reasons which exonerate the company and free it from liability. The strategic pipeline, which pours into SPDC’s Forcados Terminal, has suffered attacks by agitators and vandals in recent times.
SPDC’s representative at one of the National Spill Detection and Remediation Agency (NOSDRA)-brokered meetings, Mr. Anibasa Usman, conceded that it resulted during a “Pigging (pipeline cleaning) Operation” and Shell sources told our reporter that it was “clearly operational failure” that caused over 1,000 barrels to pollute the waters.
Shell’s Media Relations Manager, Mr. Bamidele Odugbesan, told Niger Delta Report that the company regretted the spill, clarifying that ”the Trans Ramos Pipeline (TRP) was re-opened on Sunday, April 21, this year after successful repairs and testing.” He did not overtly state what caused the spill in the e-mail sent to our reporter.
Odugbesan further explained: “No spill is acceptable to us in SPDC and the 2018 incidents on the TRP in Aghoro and Odimodi are regrettable. SPDC JV attaches high priority to its asset integrity and implements a work programme to appraise, maintain and replace key sections of pipelines and flow lines. Seventy kilometers of flow lines were installed last year, bringing the total distance of flow lines and pipelines replaced over the last seven years to approximately 1,300 kilometers.”
Yet, the suspicion and acrimony between the company and its host has led to heightening tension in the area.
A group known as “The Polluted, but Excluded Communities in the Odimodi Area” (POBECOM), and others have been at loggerheads with the company over inclusion and exclusion from list of communities impacted, and by extension those to get compensations and relief materials to cushion the effect of loss of means of livelihood and other attendant dangers from the incident. The anger extends to NOSDRA, which the communities said is colluding with Shell to shortchange them.
Earlier, the Odimodi communities and ‘Trans-Ramos Pipeline Oil Spill Impacted Communities Forum’ (TROSICF), had accused Shell of deliberately removing them from the list of impacted communities, claiming that it was a ploy to reduce its liability through remediation, compensation payment and provision of relief materials.
The Joint Investigation Visit convened by NOSDRA was rejected by those communities. The JIV, which is a process to ascertain the cause and extent of the spill preparatory to clean-up and remediation has always been a subject of conflict between the company and host communities. This is because, while the communities try to establish ‘equipment failure’, SPDC on the other hand strives to blame ‘Third Party’. The May 17, last year spill, though free from this tangle, was seized by groups’ denunciation stemming from alleged subversion of existing regulations, reduction in the size and impact of the spill to “inclusion of extraneous matters” by SPDC.
The Warri Zonal Office of NOSDRA inferred, in a meeting last year that Shell tried to evade responsibility by avoiding communities impacted in Delta State. NOSDRA Yenogoa Office confirmed that SPDC Geomatics team left out impacted communities in Delta. It concluded that the company was unwilling to carry the Warri Zonal Office along in the JIV.
Mr. Osteen Igbapike, a lawyer representing some of the impacted communities in Trans-Ramos and others in Burutu, Delta State, was unambiguous, in a chat with our reporter that the JIV was fraught with irregularities.
“It was a case of the tail wagging the dog,” he alleged in a telephone interview with Niger Delta Report. He insisted that Shell took charge of the operation and decided which areas to include and which to leave out.
“The grounds for my clients’ rejection and others who rejected it are very clear. Firstly, those who signed the (JIV) report are those who didn’t go to the field for the JIV. They were hired from the communities to sign,” he said.
While the Warri-based lawyer did not mention names, our reporter gathered that a traditional ruler who was not a part of the team signed the document, contrary to the regulation.
“Secondly, Shell carried out damage assessment on its own spill. That should have been a separate process; JIV is just to ascertain the cause and extent of the spill, but damage assessment is carried out after the exercise.
“Thirdly, the exercise was not inclusive; Shell deliberately excluded several communities in Burutu Local Government Area. They just handpicked communities that had spill points and excluded all other communities, even though they shared same water body. They made peace with only Odimodi town, and neglected the others, even though there are many other communities that were affected.
Our findings showed that SPDC is in negotiation with Aghoro I and II, Agge, and Amazor in Bayelsa State, but mostly rejected Delta communities along the River Ramos, because, according to an SPDC source, the spill from the pipeline did not get to other communities or they were not impacted.
Following the discordant tones from the riverside communities, NOSDRA, on September 11, last year convened a meeting of stakeholders, including SPDC and the polluted communities in its Abuja office.
The meeting was chaired by the outgone Director-General Dr. Peter Idabor, who, after listening to all sides of the stories, resolved to carry out a Post-spill Impact Assessment (PSIA).
The minute of the meeting, a copy of which was obtained by our reporter, revealed the anger of excluded communities and their representatives. And against that background, on November 7, last year, a letter, signed by Olubunmi Akindele on behalf of NOSDRA D-G, invited stakeholders to the PSIA, which commenced on November 14. It was gathered that PSIA lasted from November 14 to early December when the participants pulled out from site, and it was concluded in February, this year.
However, seven months after, our investigations revealed that the report of the PSIA has been kept under lock and key by NOSDRA. The current D-G, Mr. Idris Musa, who was contacted on the development on Tuesday, told our reporter that “we are calling the stakeholders for a meeting next week.”
Leaders of POBECOM and TROSICF, who spoke with our reporter about the situation, were distinctly unimpressed by NOSDRA’s and Musa’s handling of the situation so far.
A number of them felt the return of Musa, as a D-G of NOSDRA was to defeat any action against SPDC over the spill.
Chief Presley Angeyama of POBECOM, said. “NOSDRA has merely been in motion, yet there is no movement.
“SPDC and NOSDRA are working together to sweep the issue under the carpet; they want to shortchange us as they have done with several spills in the past, notably the Bonga Spill, which was handled by D-G Musa.
“The JIV showed clearly, and Shell accepted for once, that the spill was as a result of their operation failure, and yet they are not willing to do the needful.”
Speaking in the same manner, Chief Godspower Numa and Mr. Ebi Kodokodo, Chairman and Secretary respectively of TROSICF, expressed displeasure over the handling of the issue by the agency under the watch of D-G Idris Musa.
Kodokodo particularly decried perceived inability or unwillingness of the agency to compel SPDC to carry out clean-up, remediation and restoration of the areas affected by the spill. He alleged that the agency was in the know of Shell’s “plan to dodge its responsibilities resulting from the spill.”
Continuing, he said. “Every time we call to find out what has become of the PSIA, they (NOSDRA) will say it is the consultant that is holding it. How is that even possible that NOSDRA will allow its hireling to hold everybody to ransom? We know it is a delay tactics to stall the process and force us to play by their rules.
“Now, they are calling selected communities to Port Harcourt (Shell office) to further their divide-and-rule agenda. Shell is relying on a JIV, which, apart from being illegal, has been overturned by the resolution of the September 11, last year meeting convened by NOSDRA.”
Documents obtained by our reporter indicated that the communities have petitioned several government agencies, including the Office of the Attorney- General of the Federation, NOSDRA, Federal Ministry of Environment and the House of Representatives Committee on Environment, drawing attention to perceived illegality of damage assessment and payment negotiations being done by Shell with selected communities.
Contacted on the allegation that the oil company was negotiating with communities, Musa told our reporter that he was not aware, adding “I do not work on hearsay.”
He maintained that the agency would go ahead with the meeting with the proposed stakeholders to determine the next step.
The NOSDRA D-G’s position contradicts SPDC claim that all was set for payment of compensation to impacted communities as contained in Odugbesan’s statement dated July 16, this year.
He said. “The signed report of the TRP JIV identified impacted communities and we are in negotiations with these communities for compensation. The JIV is a multi-party exercise involving oil and gas industry regulators, the community, representatives of the state government, security agencies and representatives of the operator (in this case SPDC), to investigate any spill incident with a view to finding, among other things, the cause and impact of the incident.
“The TRP (Trans-Ramos Pipeline) incidents JIVs were duly signed off and are available on the SPDC JV’s spill website. Recently, NOSDRA has also concluded a Post Impact Assessment and is evaluating this assessment with a view to giving its report.”
Igbapike and the member representing Burutu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr. Julius Pondi, were adamant that nothing would come out of the meeting, especially with the position of SPDC on the JIV.
Igbapike said NOSDRA is powerless to address issues affecting SPDC because of alleged compromise.
“PSIA and Damage Assessment have proven that every one of those communities in the area was affected, and even though shell participated fully in the exercise, they are going ahead with the negotiation because they do not regard our laws.
“Now they are trying to pay off some individuals so that the communities would be divided, and others would not have voice to speak out against the injustice because those who received payment would naturally be on the side of Shell.
“This is a pipeline that erupted at several points and polluted the environment by spilling thousands of barrels of crude oil, yet the polluter is dictating who would suffer and who should be compensated,” he said.
Pondi, who visited the area shortly after the crude oil spill last year, told our reporter that he doesn’t expect any cheery news for the embattled impacted communities.