Read the Initial Statement published 10 February 2022: English
Read the Final Statement published 11 July 2024: English

On 6 May 2021, the Odoh Family, based in Nigeria, submitted a specific instance to the Netherlands NCP alleging that the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd. (SPDC) had not observed the Concepts and Principles (Chapter I), General Policies (Chapter II), Human Rights (Chapter IV), and Environment (Chapter VI) provisions of the Guidelines. Specifically, issues raised concern the following allegations 1) the Company not acting in line with the local laws and regulations; 2) the acquisition of land and water without appropriate prior engagement with the owners, i.e. the Odoh family; 3) the denial of the right to own and use properties and 4) oil spillage on land and water which is used for livelihood purposes.

The parent company of SPDC moved from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom on 31 December 2021. The NCPs from the UK and the Netherlands agreed that the specific instance would be handled by the Netherlands NCP as the initial assessment took place at the time the parent company was still based in the Netherlands.
On 10 February 2022, the Netherlands NCP published an initial assessment deciding to accept the case for further consideration as the issues raised were material and substantiated and there is a link between the enterprise’s activities and the issues raised. The NCP made an offer of good offices to the parties involved, which the company did not accept. According to its procedures, the NCP moved to further examine the issues raised.

On 11 July 2024, the NCP published a final statement determining that the company had not fully observed the Guidelines, additionally noting that the company’s OLGM is not functioning in line with step 6 of OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct. The NCP considered progress relating to the company’s observance of the Guidelines, noting that three submissions had been made against the company in the last four years, and concluded that the company did not conduct sufficient meaningful stakeholder engagement, lacked an adequately functioning OLGM, and could have better cooperated with the NCP.

The NCP issued recommendations to the company, notably that it:

• Engages meaningfully with the Odoh family to address the issues raised;
• Ensures that the contaminated land and siltation of lake is remediated;
• Ensures its OLGM is in line with the core criteria and functions accordingly;
• Cooperates in good faith and meaningfully with legitimate remediation mechanisms;
• Exercises to the fullest extent possible its leverage on SPDC in order to cooperate with remediation mechanisms;
• Concerning the sale of SPDC, disengages responsibly.

The NCP will conduct a follow up in July 2025 to evaluate any developments in the implementation of the recommendations.

#nationallaw #remedy #duediligence #pollutionandwastemanagement #naturalresources #degradation #extractives #fact-finding #localsubsidiary #UNGPs #recommendations #determination #follow-up