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For
Immediate Release Contact: IFC IGNORES NIGERIAN COMMUNITY
CONCERNS, APPROVES LOAN WITH SHELL
“A
mark of the hypocrisy often termed transparency in the board rooms
of these neocolonial concerns” – Nnimmo Bassey, Environmental
Rights Action, Nigeria Washington DC – Blatantly disregarding the concerns of
local communities, the Board of Directors of the International
Finance Corporation (IFC) has approved a $15
million loan which would benefit the Shell Petroleum Development
Corporation of Nigeria. The loan will provide hard currency to
banks in the Niger Delta who are then able to lend money to
subcontractors working for Shell. This morning, IFC representatives acknowledged “problems”
in the supposed consultation process around the project. The loan was approved by
the IFC Board on Tuesday June 19th, the same day a formal complaint
was filed with the Compliance Advisory Ombudsman office of the IFC,
and the day before Oronto Douglas, representing Environmental Rights
Action of Nigeria, arrived in DC to discuss the project with IFC
staff. Environmental
Rights Action had written the IFC last week to signal their intent
to file, and on this basis the IFC Board initially postponed
discussion of the matter. This morning, in a tense meeting, Mr.
Douglas and representatives of DC based NGO’s met with IFC staff. IFC staff explained that
the project had been under consideration for the last 24 months, but
admitted that no community groups had been consulted until after the
issue was brought to their attention by DC based NGO’s, just a few
weeks ago. Mr. Douglas
pointed out to the IFC staff that 5 of the 6 groups that they
claimed they had consulted with were actually oil industry sponsored
NGO’s. “Our people were
ignored because the IFC and Shell are continuing that discredited
and unacceptable way of doing things,” said Oronto Douglas.
“They are ignoring our people and our concerns and they are
calling it consultations. I urge IFC to reconsider and immediately cancel this
project”. Internal IFC documents
leaked to IPS and FoE three weeks ago revealed that the IFC
recognizes that this association with Shell would represent a "reputational
risk" to the World Bank. IFC staff this morning observed
astutely that Shell had a “reputational problem” in the Delta.
“What they call a
“reputational” problem, we call a consistent pattern of
complicity in and responsibility for human rights abuses and
environmental degradation. Funding
Shell in Nigeria is like funding Exxon in Valdez – its just not a
smart way to repair relations or engage in community development”
said Steve Kretzmann of the Institute for Policy Studies. The World Bank plans to launch a review of their oil, gas and mining sectors within weeks. It is not clear whether projects such as this loan to a financial intermediary for an oil company would be part of the review process. Carol Welch of Friends of the Earth noted, “If this is the kind of consultation and process that we can expect from the Bank’s review of oil, mining, and gas lending, then its going to be a very difficult process”. ####
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