SPDC Bodo Oil Spill Compensation Saga

      

       Minister of Petroleum Diezani Allison Madueke       

After having posted the "Bodo oil Spills and litigation" a piece I got from the SPDC website, I felt I will be most unfair to the Bodo people in particular and the entire Nigerian populace in general to let it be seen as it was written because they did accept responsibility for the spill and had to put that community through so much pain, torment, negative publicity and continuous neglect all in the guise of finding a way to settle and compensate them.

It will interest you to know that the said spill occurred in 2008 and as it is known and evident, oil spills aren't really friendly acts and the aftermath of that incidence has left millions of families homeless, jobless, health less and practically traumatized. Knowing the company involved for what they stand for, makes it more worrisome that it is just convenient for them to take this long to come to "a possible agreement being pursued illegally" because to them, the complainants and victims may die in the process of pursuing the court case from stress and probably starvation bearing in mind they, SPDC has taken away their source of livelihood or how else will you explain a spill that happened in 2008 making news locally and internationally in 2013 and not a very positive news yet, they make noise with peanuts for compensation thrown as insults at the Nigerian people.

Oil Spills are dangerous and they leave the worst of environment in their wake and for SPDC to continually ignore the people on whose soil so much monies has been made and ferried out to their own land for onward improvement of their people and state, that act is just malicious and criminally insane.

There had been oil spills in various countries of the world and I am not saying that SPDC caused the spill, I am stating it in Clear terms that their neglect of the host community where they had made so much monies from over the years with little or no development on ground makes them guilty for that spill and looking the other way makes it even more a premeditated act.
These communities that play host to SPDC are left with no drivable roads, no portable drinking water, no health facilities, no schools, no scholarships etc..... I know someone will say "but the company spends money on Corporate Social Responsibility yearly because we read about them in the pages of newspaper" Yes I too read about it on pages of newspaper and believe me it shouldn't be taken for the fancy word that it is.

What is Corporate Social Responsibility in the first place? Is Corporate Social Responsibility supposed to be "Corporately dished out like Oliver Twist is the recipient?" Is Corporate Social Responsibility supposed to compensate for the primary responsibility of an organization to their host communities? Is Corporate Social Responsibility a one time affair? is Corporate Social Responsibility supposed to be done every time the communities complain of neglect?
With a nod or wink how many of us remember the Ogoni 9? Read about a brief of what the MOSOP stood for and why it was ever conceived http://ejemai.blogspot.com/2013/09/movement-for-survival-of-ogoni-people.html. According to my people and the very popular word we use when it isn't a new event, "it yaff tayed".

I will just briefly take your time and draw your attention to the BP oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico and I will quickly remind us here that the world stood still and the responsible party made sure to take care of the issues that will bother on compensation and the spill clean up was followed through effectively to ensure that the incidence will not be seen as "intentional" and though it took some time, BP and the United States Department of Justice settled federal criminal charges with BP pleading guilty to 11 counts of manslaughter, two misdemeanors, and a felony count of lying to Congress. BP also agreed to four years of government monitoring of its safety practices and ethics, and the Environmental Protection Agency announced that BP would be temporarily banned from new contracts with the US government.

BP and the Department of Justice agreed to a record-setting $4.525 billion in fines and other payments but further legal proceedings not expected to conclude until 2014 are ongoing to determine payouts and fines under the Clean Water Act and the Natural Resources Damage Assessment. As of February 2013, criminal and civil settlements and payments to a trust fund had cost the company $42.2 billion.

From the above about BP, you can see that the United States Department of Justice was involved in handling the Oill Spill and were able to reach a settlement to get the people settled and get over with the whole mess, but in our own case in Nigeria as Nigerians, we get various kinds of Criminally Insane Persons and organizations coming to take the Nigerian Nation and People for a ride putting them in harms way and making us suffer for the things that are ours while some few rogues turn the Nation's treasury into their own piggy bank.


Shell Petroleum Development Company is nothing but a company with a mandate to squeeze as much as they can from their host communities as best as they can and leave them dry and drained. They like to take everything for themselves and have succeeded to create a ME mentality in the minds and consciousness of their members of staff. SPDC should not in anyway feign ignorance about the matter at hand knowing fully well how they operate always making sure to put on ground two parties promising them different things on the same platter for one purpose thereby causing a divide between loyalty and family.

The Nigerian government has so far been the irresponsible party in this whole SPDC Oil Spill incidence and like in everything they do, the wellness of the general populace has always been hijacked by some minut individuals who seem to see themselves as the only person in the room. They put aside the feelings and perception of the people in harms way and go crazy looting and bending the rules to favour themselves.
I am aware the SPDC has promised N7.5billion in compensation to these affected families and that is some pretty good monies if you ask me and if you look at it as a Nigerian that has been deprived for so long and made to accept whatever comes because the government says so. N7.5billion compensation for the affected communities after 4 years of the spill is an insult and a slap on the integrity and unified existence of the Nigerian Nation and I will demand that the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Justice takes SPDC to court and let them pay for the Oil Spill losses and suffering in real terms putting into consideration the Time Value of Money.

Now for all the negative reasons, the Ogoni people are in the news as the persons raped and deprived of their rights while SPDC as the rapist will come to court in bullet proof vest and wave to the crowd while smiling and poking fingers at our faces that there is nothing we can do.
N7.5billion would have been appropriate if it were paid in 2008 or 2009 so that the affected communities can settle in on time and then the cleanup handled effectively, then they would have done the people one more solid by making available Clean drinking water, accessible health care, roads and real employment instead of using chopper to airlift their workers and continually neglect the people hoping that they die of the pollution.

What about the gist that SPDC was to be replaced by another company? Is that ever going to happen, and if it does by any slim chance happen, will the new company not take the people for granted knowing that SPDC did it and got away with big rewards?

I blame the Nigerian government for ills SPDC and other Multinationals have meted on Nigeria and her people and for SPDC, please go back and genuinely settle the people and stop dangling N7.5billion in the news like it was your money in the first place.

I am @ejemai and these are my thoughts on the SPDC Bodo oil Spill and N7.5billion compensation saga.