Thousands of barrels of oil spouted out of the broken pipeline at Bodo for 10 weeks before Shell finally clamped it on 7 November 2008. © CEHRD

Pastor Christian Kpandei contemplates the damage done to his fish farm in Bodo, Nigeria, May 2011. The farm flourished before the August 2008 oil spill, but the pollution destroyed his fish farm, leaving him and his workers without a regular income. © Amnesty International

3.2.1 FOUR FARMERS’ CASES

The first of the pollution-related cases marked the first time that any Dutch company had been sued in the Dutch court for the operations of its subsidiaries overseas.

In 2008, four Nigerian farmers (Eric Barizaa Dooh, Fidelis Ayoro Oguru, Alali Efanga and Friday Alfred Akpan), along with Milieudefensie, the Dutch section of Friends of the Earth, filed claims against RDS and SPDC.44

They are seeking to obtain compensation for alleged damage to fish ponds and land caused by oil spills from two underground pipelines and an oil well operated by Shell in the villages of Goi, Ikot Ada Udo and Oruma between 2004 and 2007.45 read more

Oil pollution in Kegbara-Dere (K-Dere) community in Ogoniland, Rivers State, Niger Delta, Nigeria. This community has experienced multiple oil spills since Shell started operations there in the 1960s. September 2015. © Michael Uwemedimo/cmapping.net

Shell’s pipelines in Ogoniland are old and poorly maintained. There have been several spills and in 2009 there was a huge fire, at the Bomu Manifold, at K. Dere, Rivers state. September 2015. © Michael Uwemedimo/cmapping.net

Dead periwinkles covered in oily mud from Bodo creek, Nigeria, May 2011. There were two massives spills in August 2009 from a poorly maintained Shell pipeline. © Amnesty International

Signboard warning people not to enter stream that has been contaminated by oil spills, Ogale, Rivers State, Nigeria. Every year there are hundreds of spills in the Niger Delta, and clean-up is often slow and ineffective. © Amnesty International

3.2 ENVIRONMENTAL CASES (Pages 16, 17, 18 & 10)

There are three separate legal proceedings taking place against Shell in Dutch and British courts relating to oil pollution. This has devastated the Niger Delta.

Data from Shell’s own spill incident reports reveal that from 2011-18 the company reported a huge number of spills – 1,010 – along the network of pipelines and wells that it operates.25 Spills have a variety of causes – from third-party tampering, to operational faults and corrosion of aged facilities. Shell blames most spills on theft and pipeline sabotage, and are not due to its own negligence.26 read more

The Ogoni Case is a Simple Demand for Basic Rights and Justice – MOSOP

Call for the Exoneration of Ken Saro-Wiwa and Others

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) says all the Ogoni people want in Nigeria is respect for the rights of the people and justice. President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke made this known yesterday in Port Harcourt in a speech to mark the 24th anniversary of the U.N Secretary General’s fact-finding mission to Ogoni which noted that the Special Tribunal which ordered the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa had no jurisdiction to try Saro-Wiwa and the others.

Nsuke said it was shameful that Nigeria’s response to a simple and justifiable demand for basic rights and justice by the Ogoni people in Nigeria was repression by state security forces and the hounding by Shell through its agents which led to the death of thousands of innocent Ogonis. read more

Esther Kiobel and Victoria Bera sit with their lawyer as a Dutch court hears the first arguments in an historic case against Shell, in which the oil giant stands accused of instigating a raft of horrifying human rights violations committed by the Nigerian government against the Ogoni people in the 1990s, on February 12, 2019 in The Hague, Netherlands. © Pierre Crom/Getty Images

 KIOBEL AND OTHERS V SHELL

Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta were first, and most effectively, put under the spotlight in the 1990s by Ken Saro-Wiwa, an acclaimed Nigerian writer. Saro-Wiwa led a community organisation in his home area, Ogoniland, called the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). MOSOP said that while outsiders had grown rich on the oil that was pumped from under their soil, pollution from oil spills and gas flaring had, “led to the complete degradation of the Ogoni environment, turning our homeland into an ecological disaster.”10 read more

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer.4

Its industry is based in the Niger Delta, in the south of the country, where Shell first found oil in commercially viable quantities near the village of Oloibori in 1956, when Nigeria was still a British colony.5

The Niger Delta has since become Africa’s most valuable oil-producing region.

The industry is run by joint ventures between the Nigerian government and multinational companies. Shell has always been the most important of these. Shell runs its oil operations in Nigeria through its subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). It is a major shareholder and the operator of the country’s largest joint venture, which produces almost 40 percent of Nigeria’s oil.6 read more

Says Ogoni Demands for Self Determination is Justifiable

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has again called for the exoneration of the nine innocent Ogoni activists killed on November 10, 1995 by the Nigerian government.

In an interview with Voice of America”s James Butty in Washington DC president of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke said one critical aspect of the Ogoni problem that must be addressed is the exoneration of the nine Ogoni activists executed by the Nigerian government on November 10, 1995

Listen to the VOA interview available here read more

On 28 August 2008 a fault in the Trans-Niger pipeline resulted in a massive oil spill into Bodo Creek in Ogoniland. The oil poured into the swamp and creek for weeks, covering the area in a thick slick of oil and killing the fish that people depend on for food and for their livelihood. © CEHRD

Amnesty International has been conducting research on human rights abuses linked to the oil industry in the Niger Delta since the mid-1990s.1 Working jointly with the Port Harcourt-based Centre for the Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), this has included investigations into the cause and impact of pollution in Ogale and Bodo, which are two of the communities that have brought cases against Shell.2 Amnesty International has also investigated Shell’s role in the military crackdown of the 1990s, reviewing thousands of pages of court depositions and internal company documents.3 read more

Cover photo: A Dutch court hears the first arguments in an historic case against Shell, in which the oil giant stands accused of instigating a raft of horrifying human rights violations committed by the Nigerian government against the Ogoni people in the 1990s, on February 12, 2019 in The Hague, Netherlands. © Pierre Crom/Getty Images

Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all.

Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.

We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations.

Since Shell first discovered oil near the village of Oloibiri in 1956, the Niger Delta has become Africa’s most valuable oil-producing region and the Anglo-Dutch giant has earned billions of dollars. read more

Delegates to the UNPO Presidents meeting in Washington DC

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, has called for global support for the people of Ogoni in Nigeria to achieve Self Determination and protection from discrimination.

Speaking at the just-concluded meeting of presidents of the UNPO in Washington DC, United States of America, president of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke said the repression and discrimination against the Ogoni people in Nigeria was unacceptable.

Nsuke said it was unfortunate that a simple demand for justice was being repressed by the Nigerian authorities leading to the death of over 4000 persons and continues to endanger the lives of over one million Ogoni people. read more

FEBRUARY 17, 2020 / 9:28 PM

YENAGOA, Nigeria, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s state oil company and its joint venture partners have spent $360 million on cleaning up the Niger Delta oil heartland in the past two years, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said on Monday, but locals said little work had been done.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest crude oil exporter. Oil sales account for around 90% of its foreign currency earnings but oil spills in the southern Niger Delta region have caused pollution and angered locals. read more

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) says the failed Ogoni cleanup exercise under the management of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has received a total of US$350,000,000 (Three Hundred and Fifty Million U.S. Dollars) since 2017 without anything to show for it.

Lamenting the corruption and looting going on in HYPREP yesterday (February 14, 2020) during a briefing in his office in Bori, headquarter of Khana local government area,  President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke said it was unfortunate that an overwhelming $350million, an estimated NGN128,000,000,000 (One hundred and twenty eight billion Naira) meant for the cleanup has been largely misappropriated due to the massive corruption in HYPREP. read more

In 2020 Shell will face unprecedented legal scrutiny over decades of human rights abuses in Nigeria, Amnesty International said today, as the oil giant braces itself for conclusions in a string of European court battles. Allegations range from complicity in unlawful executions to systemic pollution and environmental damage in the Niger Delta.

(RELATED: Investigate Shell for complicity in murder, rape and torture)

Amnesty International has been researching Shell’s activities in the Niger Delta for more than 20 years, compiling compelling evidence of the company’s role in human rights abuses. In a report released today, the organization highlights the various cases that are finally putting Shell’s harmful operations in Nigeria on trial. read more

By Prince Fegalo Nsuke, president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). 

Ken Saro-Wiwa’s murder is most certainly the worst Nigeria did to the Ogoni people outside the genocide which has been the outcome of Shell’s reckless oil mining operations since 1958.

The pain of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s murder along with eight others including John Kpuinen, Barinem Nubari Kiobel, Nordu Eawo, Saturday Doobee,  Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate and Baribor Bera remain the most unpleasant side of our country’s history. It is so because the “Ogoni 9” as they became known and referred to were definitely innocent and did not deserve death. read more

KROLL | Our Hand in the Resource Curse

By Julian Kroll: 29 Jan 2020

When a weakly-democratic regime stumbles upon billions in oil revenue, it’s safe to assume they’ll protect and abuse their power. Resource curse case-studies include Nigeria, Venezuela and Zambia.

Nigeria is home to a similar iteration of the resource curse. Although oil and gas monies currently account for roughly 65 percent of Nigeria’s gross government revenue, the World Bank has reported that 80 percent of these earnings are held by 1 percent of the nation’s population. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the story of Nigeria’s economic and political misdoings features Royal Dutch Shell, the British-Dutch oil and gas company, rather prominently. read more

Extracts from an article by Stephen Delahunty published 15 January 2020

Newly released files under the UK’s declassification rules reveal that John Major’s Conservative Government rejected Mandela’s personal appeal to impose oil sanctions on Nigeria as it wanted to protect Shell and the UK’s wider commercial interests.

In 1995, Nigeria’s military regime executed nine environmental activists who had led a non-violent protest against pollution by Anglo-Dutch company Shell and other energy firms in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

The so-called ‘Ogoni 9’ were executed on 10 November 1995, following a military tribunal that was internationally condemned – particularly by South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela.

Newly released files under the UK’s declassification rules reveal that John Major’s Conservative Government rejected Mandela’s personal appeal to impose oil sanctions on Nigeria as it wanted to protect Shell and the UK’s wider commercial interests. read more

The UK and US considered a navy-backed oil embargo against Nigeria, following the 1995 execution of writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, a document released by the UK government reveals.

Saro-Wiwa and eight other campaigners from the Ogoni ethnic group were hanged on 10 November 1995.

They had been found guilty by a secret military tribunal of the murder of four Ogoni chiefs by a mob.

The nine denied the charge and said they had been framed.

Saro-Wiwa led mass protests against oil pollution in Nigeria’s Ogoniland.

The protests were seen as a major threat to Nigeria’s military ruler at the time, Gen Sani Abacha, and Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell.

• Fishermen at risk amidst the oil

• Militants cripple Nigeria’s oil sector

The executions led to Nigeria suspension from the Commonwealth. read more