ABUJA (Thomson Financial) - Nigeria said oil companies should be obliged to pay compensation for degradation resulting from their exploration and production activities particularly in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
'The companies have an obligation beyond their exploration and production to restore degraded land to its original state,' junior petroleum minister Odein Ajumogobia told a conference on 50 years of discovery of oil in Nigeria.
'They have an obligation to pay compensation for damaged property in the area,' Ajumogobia said, without giving any figure or percentage, in reaction to a comment by Shell country chairman Basil Omiyi, who said Niger Delta development was not the role of the oil companies.
'It's not the role of the companies to develop the Niger Delta. It's the role of the government to develop the Niger delta. It's not the responsibility of the private sector to play the role of the government,' Omiyi said in his presentation at the conference.
'I recognise that the oil companies could have some responsibilities toward their neighbours, it is the primary role of government to do development because they receive money for doing so,' Omiyi said. tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com afp/cmr COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
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