Shell, Human Rights, and Oil in the Niger Delta

We in CDD have with growing concern, been paying close attention to developments in the Niger Delta since the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists in November 1995. This gross human rights violation brought international opprobrium on the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha, triggering a chain of events that culminated in the suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth. In its advocacy work CDD informed by rigorous analysis in various policy papers, special reports and general commentaries bearing on environmental and community development issues in the West African sub-region in general and Nigeria in particular, have consistently argued that the present crisis in the Niger Delta must be understood as the failure of the Nigerian state to deliver development in the area. Faced with the legitimate demands of its citizens in the area for a political and economic arrangement that is responsive to their desire for sustainable development and meaningful participatory processes that can bring this about, successive regimes in the country have responded with intimidation and brutal repression. It is in light of these that we are hosting this seminar with the Royal Commonwealth Society to create an avenue for the repressed voices to be heard; the facts to be presented and to create a platform for public debate which hopefully will generate international pressure on the relevant parties towards a better life, cleaner land and the human rights of the people of the Niger-Delta.

The discovery of oil in Nigeria’s Niger Delta in 1956 triggered a chain of events that has led to the political and economic marginalisation of the inhabitants. Rivers, farmland and fishing creeks have also been subjected to devastation, due to the activities of the Western oil companies operating in the Niger Delta. Indeed, it has been argued that oil has been more of curse than a blessing to the people who have been at the receiving end of horrendous government repression and brutality, often resulting in fatalities. Despite 40 years of oil production and hundreds of billions of dollars of oil revenue, the local people remain in abject poverty without even the most basic amenities such as water and electricity. Blood and Oil restores voice and agency to a segment of the Niger Delta crisis that has often been neglected or given short shrift by journalists, writers and researchers: Women. This monograph is also very important for yet another reason: In its pages the authentic voices of these women spring to life. We hear them speak of their fears and sufferings and pains. We hear them speak of rape and defilement and death. They speak of loss of property and limbs and loved ones but are made extraordinary and heroic by their deeds and there determined refusal to be oppressed.

*Sokari Ekine, a writer and environmentalist, is the Europe representative of Niger Delta Women for Justice (NDWJ), a Non Government Organisation based in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. NDWJ is committed to improving the personal, economic and educational status of women and to ensuring that their environmental and human rights are upheld.

In contrast to the beneficial picture of the giant multinational corporation Royal Dutch Shell's activities painted by its public relations professionals, authors Ike Okonta and Oronto Douglas have found persuasive evidence that Shell and the Nigerian government share responsibility for making the Niger Delta one of the world's most endangered ecosystems. With the support of the Nigerian regime, Shell has instituted practices such as gas flaring (the ignition of gas in the atmosphere), the laying of dangerous high-pressure oil pipelines above ground, and the pollution of water sources, degrading the land and leaving many local people destitute. As compelling as it is important, ‘Where Vultures Feast’ is a story that demands to be heard.

*Ike Okonta is a scholar currently based at St. Peter’s College, Oxford University. He is also a writer and journalist. He is a regular columnist for the Lagos-based ‘This Day’ newspaper and previously worked on the editorial team of the ‘Tempo’ newspaper during the military regime in Nigeria. Ike Okonta is also the in-house editor of CDD’s journal ‘Democracy & Development: Journal of West African Affairs’.

*Oronto Douglas is Nigeria’s leading environmental human rights lawyer, former attorney for the late Ken Saro-Wiwa and presently heading the Environmental Rights Action – ERA in Nigeria.

*Bronwen Manby is Deputy Director in the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch based in London. She has campaigned extensively on an international scale on human rights issues in the Niger Delta region, and wrote the 1999 HRW report ‘The Price of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria's Oil Producing Communities’ on human rights violations in the Niger Delta.