Shell is negotiating the sale of the assets of its subsidiary Shell Development Company, which operates in the offshore zone of the Niger Delta, to the African Renaissance Energy Company, a consortium of Nigerian companies, for 2.4 billion dollars. The Center for Research on Multinational Corporations, a non-profit organization based in the Netherlands, said in a statement that “Shell should not be allowed to divest from the delta without taking responsibility for its toxic legacy of pollution and ensuring the removal of abandoned equipment.”

The criticism comes on the second and final day of a nationwide strike called by independent and official unions demanding wage increases and government action against runaway inflation plaguing the economy of Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest oil producer.

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