Afrigather Reacting to the hiring by the Nigerian oil regulator of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and S&P International to assist scrutinize the sale of Shell’s onshore belongings within the nation, Isa Sanusi, Amnesty Worldwide Nigeria Director, mentioned:
“The federal government regulator overseeing Shell’s sale of its onshore belongings in Nigeria should keep away from any perceived battle of pursuits by making certain and guaranteeing the complete independence of any consultants it makes use of to evaluate Shell’s proposed sale of its belongings in Nigeria.
“The choice by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Fee to rent BCG, which already performs all kinds of different work for Shell, to assist assess this sale is regarding. It’s equally worrying that S&P International, which additionally performs a key position in score Shell’s debt and creditworthiness in addition to offering different providers to the oil firm, can also be concerned.
Given the big human rights dangers at stake it’s important that critiques of the sale aren’t simply impartial – however seen to be impartial
Isa Sanusi, Amnesty Worldwide Nigeria Director
“Given the big human rights dangers at stake it’s important that critiques of the sale aren’t simply impartial – however seen to be impartial. Shell must be held fully to account for the oil spills associated to the enterprise it’s promoting, which for many years have polluted the atmosphere, contaminated ingesting water and poisoned agricultural land, fisheries and other people.
“Any assurances from these consultancy teams that their critiques can be divorced from their wider industrial pursuits with Shell are unlikely to allay worries that they might smooth pedal on the cures required to handle the human rights abuses associated to Shell’s actions.
“It is usually important that the potential consumers of the enterprise have the power and monetary stability to handle the operations safely and successfully to make sure native communities aren’t uncovered to additional harms. The deal should not be allowed to proceed except a sequence of safeguards are in place that absolutely shield individuals’s rights.”
Background
Shell introduced in January that it had agreed to promote the Shell Petroleum Growth Firm of Nigeria (SPDC) to the Renaissance consortium, which includes 4 exploration and manufacturing corporations primarily based in Nigeria and a global power group, in a deal value as much as US$2.4 billion, financed partly with a mortgage to the consumers from Shell.
