By Tobias Lengnan Dapam
In its determination to address the human rights violations in Nigeria, the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), has led a delegation of campaigners to Norway to engage the Norwegian Oil Fund (Norges Bank Investment Management – NBIM) and other key stakeholders.
The engagement which was part of the mission of the Nigerian Speakers Tour to Norway is to raise awareness among the citizens groups, community leaders and decision-makers about Shell’s destruction in Nigeria as well as oil companies’ role in human rights violation and climate change.
ANEEJ Executive Director, Rev. David Ugolor, the leader of the delegation made the position known to newsman shortly before their departure. Other members of the team of four include Celestine AkpoBari Nkabari, leader of Ogoni Solidarity Forum and the Peoples Advancement Centre, Affiah Foh Bridget, Executive Director, Ideal Women Advancement Initiative, and Goodluck Odua Macaulay, Campaign Officer for the Niger Delta Youth Alliance (NIDYA).
” The visit to Norway will provide opportunity to get a clear response from NBIM about their investment in Shell and our earlier invitation to investors to visit Niger Delta to assess the environmental impact of oil and gas exploration in the region.”, Ugolor stated.
“We are confident that we will be able to bring together civil society organisations in Norway and make way for further work on NBIM around climate change and fossil fuels.”, AkpoBare added.
“We hope that our visit to Norway’s capital will be an opportunity for the Oil Fund to provide answers to the current injustices and live up to its ambitions of becoming the “world leading responsible investor”, Affiah Foh Bridget stated.
Recall that ANEEJ led over 30 Nigerian NGOs – representing women, youth, indigenous people and others, in May 2023 to write a letter to NBIM’s CEO, Nicolai Tangen, to say that “While claiming to engage to change Shell, Norway’s Oil Fund has in fact long provided powerful financial and moral support for the company. Not much has been achieved with the Ogoni clean-up and it seems that you and your staff are at risk of being misled by Shell and its representatives. The Nigerian groups invited NBIM staff to go to the Niger Delta to undertake a fact-finding mission to see the true state of affairs.”