That BP covered up its worst-case scenario of gushing 100,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico simply confirms what many people living in Nigeria’s oil region have long protested about. In the Niger Delta, companies like Shell routinely under-report spill figures and volumes to limit their liabilities in terms of fines…
As the US government takes BP to task over the disasterous Gulf of Mexico spill, many Nigerians (including twitter users) are asking, ‘what about Shell?’. There is nothing clean about Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta, where daily oil spills are frequently ignored for months and where ‘clean up’ methods include dumping oil-drenched soil into pits before…
An article by John Vidal in The Observer this week finds that the enormity of oil pollution in Nigeria ‘dwarfs’ BP’s Deepwater Horizon blow-out. Nigeria’s agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused headlines around the world, yet the people who live in the Niger delta…
In a blunt display of corporate censorship, Chevron officials denied respected human rights activist and Niger Delta women’s leader Emem Okon and a global delegation including Justice In Nigeria Now from its annual Shareholder Meeting in Houston yesterday (picture credit: Rainforest Action Network’s Change Chevron campaign). The company, which is facing multiple lawsuits regarding its…
As BP’s Deepwater Horizon continues to exceed the company’s efforts to control it, the arrogance and irresponsibility of the oil major’s chief executive, Tony Hayward and his team has never been as clear. The consequences of BP’s mismanagement of the rig loom large, with estimated legal costs currently pegged at $60bn, and rising. Since the quantity of oil…
The Financial Times pulled an Amnesty advert challenging Shell’s pollution in the Niger Delta today. The full page ad was due to appear the morning of Shell’s AGM, to contrast the company’s $9.8 billion profit with its role in causing Nigerian communities to drink polluted water, eat contaminated fish, farm on spoiled land, and breathe in air…
Frontline human rights defenders in the Niger Delta suffered a brutal police attack on Monday 5th April, it emerged today in an Amnesty International statement. Activists from the Ogoni Solidarity Forum and Social Action were beaten, illegally detained without charge and denied access to lawyers and medical treatment. The text below is cross-posted from the Amnesty…
From RSW blog: Frontline human rights defenders in the Niger Delta suffered a brutal police attack on Monday 5th April. Activists from the Ogoni Solidarity Forum and Social Action were beaten, illegally detained without charge and denied access to lawyers and medical treatment. The text below is cross-posted from the Amnesty International website and community rights monitor, Niger Delta Watch: “Amnesty International…
Viewers of the BBC2 action drama on the Niger Delta, ‘Blood and Oil’ may be shocked to discover that this murky thriller of hostages, soldiers, oil and conflict, has its roots in real events in the Delta. In particular, one of the darker chapters of former President Obasanjo’s repressive rule that went largely unreported… In…
The Niger Delta crisis is coming to an audience of millions as BBC 2 screen the long anticipated and award-winning drama, ‘Blood and Oil’ on prime time television. Guy Hibbert’s tense thriller (starring Naomi Harris (28 Days Later), Johdi May (Defiance) Patterson Joseph and David Oyelowo) follows two women as they investigate the circumstances that…