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Fifteen years ago today, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others were executed by the Nigerian military government in collaboration with Shell Nigeria. The oil giant is under fresh scrutiny after secret documents revealed in The Guardian today expose how Shell tried to cover up oil spill data and manipulated the media and NGOs in the wake…

It’s the kind of text message you never want to receive. Sent from an activist in the Niger Delta on November 9th at 22.00,  it reads: Teams of heavily armed policemen stormed Saro-Wiwa’s No. 24 Aggrey Road, Port Harcourt, venue of the Saro-Wiwa candle light procession, shooting sporadically causing fear and panic. [UPDATE 11/11/10: we…

PLATFORM has created Scorch/Drench – an installation and a one week of films, discussions and workshops which inform and challenge our relationship to oil, at the invitation of curators of the season “Gentle Actions – Art, Ecology, Action” at Kunstnernes Hus Oslo, running 22.10.10 – 14.11.10. Anna and I aren’t travelling out there for a…

UNEP has found another person to blame for its troubles in Ogoniland: it’s all the media’s fault. After presenting Shell’s disputed oil spill data as fact, the Port Harcourt-based team of 100 scientists denied allegations that their report will clear Shell of responsibilty for the majority of oil spills. Nick Nuttal, spokeperson for UNEP, blamed…

Today Amnesty International joined the chorus of disapproval and outrage at UNEP’s decision to clear Shell of all responsibility for oil spills in Nigeria. UNEP has been widely criticised for recently using Shell data to announce that the company is only 10% responsible for the causes of oil spills. “Relying on these figures would be…

As any child educated in Nigeria will tell you, oil was discovered in Oloibiri, Nigeria in 1956. Oil spills in Nigeria date back to those early days of exploration and production and increased significantly with the expansion of infrastructure onshore and offshore in 1970s. All the more shocking then that Mike Cowing, the UNEP’s leading expert on…

The top story in The Guardian today is the global outrage at a UNEP study which ‘exonerates’ Shell for oil spills in Nigeria. What started as an environmental audit of Ogoniland has become another manipulative PR strategy. A three-year investigation by the United Nations will almost entirely exonerate Royal Dutch Shell for 40 years of oil pollution in…

There are some things that the debate over oil spills in Nigeria cannot change. Under Nigerian law, Shell has principal responsibility to clean up all spills from its facilities, regardless of whether the cause is sabotage or neglect. And Shell has all the resources and technology to stop these spills from happening. If the UNEP…