ENVIRONMENTAL TESTIMONIES #18...SHELL + BLOOD MIX AT EVWRENI
ERA/FoEN
214 Uselu-Lagos Road, P.O. Box 10577, Benin City, Nigeria
Tel/fax + 234 52 600 165 e-mail: erac...@infoweb.abs.net
ENVIRONMENTAL TESTIMONIES # 18
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DATELINE: February 22, 2000
SUBJECT: SHELL, BLOOD STAINS FROM EVWRENI
DESPATCHLINE: EVWRENI COMMUNITY, UGHELLI LGA, DELTA STATE
INTRODUCTION
ONE MAIN SOURCE OF COMMUNAL CONFLICT IN THE OIL RICH NIGER DELTA IS THE
MATTER OF WHO BENEFITS FROM THE CRUMBS OF COMPENSATION THAT THE OIL
COMPANIES SET ASIDE FOR LOCAL PEOPLE WHOSE LAND HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY FORCE OF
ARMS FOR OIL PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES. SURFACE RIGHTS COMPENSATION IS BY DECREE
PAYABLE TO COMMUNITIES AND PEOPLES WHOSE LAND IS IMPACTED NEGATIVELY OR
THOSE WHO HAVE LOST THE USE OF SUCH LAND.THE LAWS GOVERNING COMPENSATION IS
DICTATED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND THE OIL COMPANIES. THE OIL COMPANIES HOLD THE
ACE. THEY DECIDE THE AMOUNT LOCAL PEOPLE CAN GET; WHEN THEY CAN GET IT AND
IN WHOSE HAND THE MONEY SHOULD BE PAID! THIS POWERFUL POSITION ENABLES THE
OIL COMPANIES IN MOST CASES TO GET INVOLVED IN COMMUNAL POLITICS.THE
COMPANIES ARE ALSO KNOWN TO HAVE SUPPORTED INDIVIDUALS, PERSONS OR GROUPS
WHO HAVE DISPLAYED A CAPACITY TO HELP THEM PROTECT THEIR INVESTMENT. THE
SUPPORT IS IN THE FORM OF GENEROUS CONTRACTS, CASH OR CONTACTS. THE CASH,
ERA INVESTIGATION ACROSS THE DELTA CONFIRMS, SOMETIMES ENDS UP IN THE
ACQUISITION OF ARMS TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE OIL COMPANIES. MOST COMMUNAL
CONFLICTS IN THE NIGER DELTA THEREFORE ARE OIL-INSPIRED. IN EVWRENI
COMMUNITY, UGHELLI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, IN THE URHOBO HEARTLAND OF DELTA
STATE, A CONFLICT OVER WHO SHOULD BENEFIT FROM A SIX MILLION NAIRA (USD
60,000) COMPENSATION FROM SHELL HAS TURNED THE COMMUNITY TO THAT OF THE
DEAD. THE OVIE, THE TRADITIONAL RULER OF EVWRENI WAS KILLED WHEN PROTESTS
ERUPTED OVER SHELLS MONEY. ALSO KILLED WERE SEVERAL YOUTHS AND A PROMINENT
CHIEF. THE CAUSE OF THE CONFLICT HAS NOW BEEN TRACED BY CONFLICT RESOLUTION
SPECIALISTS TO THE SHELLS DIVIDE- AND-RULE POLICY. IN THE TESTIMONIES BELOW
THE PEOPLE EXPLAIN THEIR ORDEAL IN THE HANDS OF SHELL THESE PAST THREE
DECADES AND WHAT HAPPENED IN EVWRENI RECENTLY.
AVWIAREMU EMARHIVWE, YOUTH LEADER, EVWRENI
Since Shell Petroleum Development Company started operating in Evwreni 33
years ago, we have not gained any thing from Shell. Shell has 14 oil wells
in Evwreni yet we are under- developed. We are marginalised and treated
badly. There is no light, no town hall, no cottage industries and no basic
amenities in our community.
This was why we called on our youth president and his cabinet for a round
table conference on Shell. We needed their permission to shut down Shell
flow station at Evwreni since Shell does not want to develop our area.
The youth president advised that before we close down any flow station, we
should give Shell a 21-day ultimatum, which we did. After 21 days there was
no response from Shell. This problem was still brewing when Shell and its
contractors connived with our traditional ruler to sack 5 of our youths that
were working with Shell. Normally, Shell does not employ our youths, we
appealed to the contractor to employ these youths and they did. This led to
crisis in the community. We all marched to our traditional ruler, Ovie
Kumane Owin, who ordered his guard to shoot at us and in the process,
Asekevwe Lucky was killed.
CHIEF J. O. FASHE, COMMUNITY LEADER, EVWRENI
The problem first began from Shell. They give inadequate compensations
anyhow. Also, the method Shell uses to employ the people of Evwreni is
wrong. Whenever they want to employ, they will ask Kumane Owin the
traditional ruler to bring his relatives for employment, forgetting others.
However, by chance 5 community youths were employed and the traditional
ruler Kumane Owin in collaboration with Shell had them sacked. This ignited
the crisis. The youths went on a protest march to the palace of Kumane Owin,
and he ordered his guards to shoot them. This led to the death of Asekevwe
Lucky. Consequently, Chief Fashe was killed during the crisis.
AVWENOPHAN MONDAY, YOUTH ACTIVIST, EVWRENI
We are one of the host communities of Shell flow stations. The station
produces an average of 15,000 barrels per day since the 1970s. Shell s work
in our land has caused a lot of problems to us; crops do not grow as they
used to do, the environment has been polluted, many people are jobless as
the land with which we used to farm is now useless because of Shell's
activities. We have never benefited from Shell. There are no intensive
training programmes for us, no community development projects, no
scholarship awards, and no adequate compensation when oil spills occur.
We have both a flow station and a compressor station, but nothing to show
for it. If they want to employ, they do it from neighbouring communities. If
Shell wants to pay compensation for oil spills, it is either too little or
they don t pay at all. We are under-developed. There is nothing to show that
Shell has been operating in our land for a long time. This is cheating,
negligence and marginalization. If people think we re lying, Shell records
are there to show that we are saying the truth.
Over the years, many youths have applied for industrial training but none
has been absolved by Shell. The quota for Evwreni is not always adhered to.
We the youths of Evwreni told Shell that we will fight for our rights as
contained in the constitution of the Federal of Republic Nigeria. We were
not threatening Shell, we only wanted our demands to be met by the company.
JOHN EMRAKHOR, EVWRENI INDIGENE, UGHELLI
All these problems were also caused due to the six million naria
compensation money Shell paid to the community. There was an oil spill and
the people clamoured for the compensation money for the community. Shell
eventually paid 6 million naria as compensation but the money got to a few
hands.
The activities of Shell at Evwreni gives us cause for concern. Only a
selected few benefit from them and Shell does not care that the rest of us
are not benefiting. If Shell cares for Evwreni, there may not have been
crisis and chaos. Lucky Asekevwe and Chief Fashe would not have been killed
and there would not have been insecurity in Evweni today.
Evwreni is currently a no-go area. Mobile policemen are currently
parading about the place. Mobil policemen killed Chief James Fashe and burnt
down his beautiful house.
We are mostly farmers. We farm to survive. But Shell does not care. The oil
spills from Shell has made the soil infertile. Our farmland is becoming
useless. Oil has become a curse rather than a blessing. It s true that
Kumane Owin was brutal and a bad man, but the activities of Shell has
further made the situation at Evwreni worse.
We cannot go back to Evwreni. Mobile policemen are there. They shot Chief
Fashe on the leg and he died. The mobile police or Owin s supporters could
kill us also. We do not know when things will become settled. But for now,
the man who loves himself will not go to Evwreni.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
1. Put pressure on the Federal Government and Shell so that they can always
employ dialogue to resolve disputes in the Niger Delta.
2. Support local people call for resource control and self-determination.
Insist that adequate compensation be paid to local communities.
3. Write a protest letter to Shell insisting that the company should be more
environmentally friendly at Evwreni and the Niger Delta. Call on the company
to stop the divide and rule policy of the past four decades in the Niger
Delta.
4. Send copies of your letter to your legislators and lawmakers from your
constituency (Nigerians) requesting them to raise issues of environmental
concerns as a critical part of their mandate and obligation to the people
5. Send copies of your letters to your local newspapers
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ENVIRONMENTAL TESTIMONIES: THE PEOPLE SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES.
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----------------For more information / reports contact:
ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ACTION/ FRIENDS OF THE EARTH (FoE, Nigeria) + OILWATCH
AFRICA
#214, Uselu-Lagos Road, P. O. Box 10577, Benin City, Nigeria
Tel/Fax: + 234 52 600165
Email: erac...@infoweb.abs.net
Port Harcourt: # 13 Agudama Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt
Tel: + 234 84 236365
Email: dis...@infoweb.abs.net
London: 42, William Harvey House, Whitlock Drive, SW119 6SQ
Tel/Fax: + 44 181 7800574 Email: nj...@compuserve.com
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