Senate must compel IOCs to clean up Niger Delta – HEDA
The Human and Environmental Development Agenda Resource Centre has called on the Nigerian Senate to go beyond its current crackdown on crude oil theft and hold International Oil Companies accountable for decades of environmental destruction and economic injustice in the Niger Delta.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, HEDA welcomed the Senate’s renewed legislative attention to oil-related crimes but warned that justice for the Niger Delta must extend beyond local theft to include the long-term impacts of multinational oil operations.
“While we commend the Senate for stepping up collaboration with security agencies to tackle oil theft, the deeper and more enduring theft is the environmental and economic plunder by IOCs,” Suraju said.
He accused IOCs of attempting to quietly divest their onshore assets and exit Nigeria without addressing the devastation to host communities.
“That is unacceptable. “These companies operated for decades with little regard for the environment or the people and must not be allowed to walk away without cleaning up their mess,” he said.
Suraju was reacting to a recent meeting between the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Crude Oil Theft and the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
The committee, chaired by Senator Ned Nwoko, emphasised the need for enhanced intelligence sharing and security coordination to safeguard Nigeria’s oil infrastructure.
But HEDA insisted that securing oil assets is only part of the solution.
“Justice for Niger Delta residents cannot be secured by police action alone. If the Senate truly wants to end economic sabotage, then it must also tackle the longstanding impunity of oil multinationals,” Suraju said.
He recalled HEDA’s consistent advocacy against the hasty divestment of IOCs, including petitions to Nigerian authorities and international accountability bodies.
The group has repeatedly called for polluted sites to be remediated and for affected communities to be compensated, citing rulings against some IOCs.
Suraju, however, lamented that local enforcement remained weak.
“It’s time for the Nigerian Senate to show the same urgency in enforcing environmental justice as it is doing in curbing oil theft,” he said.
“Communities in Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, and beyond continue to suffer the health, economic, and ecological consequences of oil extraction and must not be abandoned again,” Suraju said.
According to data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigeria lost more than 353 million barrels of crude oil worth approximately $25.7bn to theft between 2002 and 2025.
HEDA warned that the cost of environmental degradation, displacement, and corporate negligence could be even higher.
“This is a defining moment. “The Senate must rise above politics and protect the dignity and rights of the people. The IOCs operating in the area must not be allowed to walk away without taking responsibility. Anything less is an injustice,” Suraju added.
