The Human and Environmental Development Agenda has called on the Senate to compel international oil companies to clean up decades of environmental damage in the Niger Delta.

In a statement on Wednesday signed by its chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, HEDA urged lawmakers to move beyond oil theft investigations and address what it described as “decades of ecological destruction and economic injustice.”

While commending the Senate’s efforts against crude oil theft, Suraju argued that the environmental degradation caused by IOCs amounts to a “deeper and more enduring theft.”

“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,” he said.

He accused international oil companies of attempting to quietly divest their onshore assets and exit Nigeria without taking responsibility for the environmental devastation left behind in 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’s comments were in reaction to a meeting between Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun and the Senate ad-hoc committee on crude oil theft, led by Senator Ned Nwoko.

The committee had called for improved intelligence-sharing and stronger protection of oil infrastructure.

However, Suraju argued that safeguarding pipelines alone would not address the deeper, long-standing issues in the region.

“Justice for Niger Delta residents cannot be secured by police action alone,” he said.

“If the senate truly wants to end economic sabotage, then it must also tackle the longstanding impunity of oil multinationals.”

Suraju recalled HEDA’s previous efforts to oppose the “hasty divestment” of assets by international oil companies, including petitions to both local and international bodies.

He noted that the group has repeatedly called for the clean-up of contaminated sites and compensation for affected communities, citing several court judgments against the oil firms.

Despite these actions, he said enforcement of the rulings remains largely ineffective.

“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.

He warned that communities in Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, and other oil-producing states continue to bear the brunt of unregulated oil extraction.

Citing data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), he noted that Nigeria lost over 353 million barrels of crude—valued at approximately $25.7 billion—to oil theft between 2002 and 2025.