The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, has accused the Shell Petroleum Development Company, Nigeria’s subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell of frustrating the effective implementation of the UNEP report on Ogoni as a ploy to destroy the preservation of its pollution records and dirty pasts in Ogoni.
Speaking in Lagos on Wednesday, President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke said Shell had been desperate to destroy every attempt to keep records of its sordid history and irresponsibility in Ogoni
The MOSOP president also accused the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, of conniving with the Shell in the process to thwart the proper implementation of the UNEP report on Ogoni.
The MOSOP president said Shell’s first attempt to skew the UNEP report on Ogoni was a plot to blame the Ogoni pollutions on community sabotage.
He noted that Shell has strongly influenced the activities of HYPREP positing that the failure of HYPREP to establish the Center of Excellence as recommended by the UNEP was a plot to erase the records of massive pollution of Shell in Ogoni.
Nsuke said the Center of Excellence was not only to serve as a capacity building center but was meant to keep the records of Shell’s environmental pollution in Ogoni. By failing to build the Center of Excellence and keep records of the environment today, HYPREP is conniving with Shell to help the company conceal its bad records in Ogoni.
He maintained that the faulty implementation of the UNEP report on Ogoni was deliberately designed by HYPREP to distort the dirty and irresponsible business practices of Shell in Ogoni.
Nsuke said, Shell was taking advantage of its sponsorship and funding of HYPREP. He expressed worries that Shell’s involvement with HYPREP, especially as the company was represented on the management of HYPREP, makes the implementation agency susceptible to manipulation.
He said Shell first attempted to manipulate the Ogoni cleanup process when it mounted pressure on UNEP to blame the Ogoni people for the pollution in Ogoni.
According to Nsuke, the failure of HYPREP to diligently implement the UNEP report on Ogoni are clear pointers to the gang up to cover the crimes of Shell in Ogoni.
