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Shell Nigeria

The Problem-Environmental and Social

The Niger Delta is one of the largest wetlands in the world, consisting of over 20,000 square kilometers of fragile ecosystems such as freshwater swamp forest, mangroves, lowland rainforests, and coastal barrier islands. Not surprisingly, it is extremely bio-diverse. The Delta is home to the largest mangrove forest in Africa and it is responsible for 80 percent f the national GDP and 95 percent of the federal budget. Above all, the Niger Delta is known for its neglect and underdevelopment.

Oil production was accompanied by industrial development such as the building of two oil refineries, a fertilizer plant, a petrochemical plant, a power plant, and the Liquefied Natural Gas project. . All of which did not employ the Ogoni people. With drilling came leaks, oil spill, gas flarings, and acid rain. 76 percent of the gas reserves in the Delta are flared.

One of the worst oil disasters was the Bomu II blowout of July 1970, which sparked the beginning of a hostile relationship between the Ogoni people and Shell. The Shell-BP mine in Bomu eminated crude oil, sand, was, gas, and fire day and night for a period of two months. During which time, people living there were prohibited from making fire, which meant that they could not cook meals for smoke. The Blowout destroyed all farmland within a three-mile radius. Fishing and agriculture in this area were made impossible. The Ogoni people demanded compensation for this damages done by the spill, only to be rejected by Shell-BP. The Ogoni referenced the Tory Canyon disaster of 1966 off the coast of England whose oil companies were forced to pay 3 million pounds for compensation. The Ogoni people recognized that they were not getting the same treatment, but were being utterly ignored. What is even more disturbing is that no relief efforts were sent out to help the victims of this spill. Those effected, were left to their own devices.

Shell reponded to the allegations with the following statement, “The company recognizes there are environmental problems associated with its operations and it is committed to dealing with them, but these problems do not add up to anything like devastation” (Shell International 1995c).

The Ogoni People

The Ogoni are a group of indigenous people consist of about 500,000 who are divided into six kingdoms; Babbe, Elem, Gokana, Nyo Khana, Ken Khera, and Tai, in the Niger Delta in south-eastern Nigeria. They are a people who are very tied to the land. Conquest of the Ogoni people occurred in 1914 when the Nothern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria. The Ogoniland administrative headquarters was established about 200 miles away, causing them to feel alienated and physically removed from authority.

Shell Nigeria

Shell’s interest in Nigeria began in 1937 when it was a British Colony. The Company’s first discovery of oil was in 1956 in the Delta and it’s first cargo of oil left Nigeria in 1958. Nigeria is home to some of the best crude oil in the world and Shell was responsible for half of the country’s total daily production at 2 million barrels a day. Nigeria is without a doubt, Shell’s “largest and more complex exploration and production venture” other than those in North America. (Shell International). Ownership of the Shell’s operations in Nigeria are split among the Nigeria government, who owns 55%, the Shell Petroleum Development Corporation, which owns 30%, with the rest under the ownership of Elf Petroleum Iran and Agip Dorood. Shell estimates that “from the start of production until 1993 when the company suspended operations in Ogoni land a total of 634 million barrels of oil, valued at US $5.2 billion, were produced from the area of which 79%, went to the Nigerian government in taxes, royalties and equity” (Detheridge and Noble).

Political Factors

Due to its rich recourses, Nigeria had been a place of “internal colonialism” ever since the 1800’s beginning with the trade in palm oil. Anti-colonialist sentiment by indigenes has longstanding history in Nigeria. “Nigeria was created by British merchants and soldiers of fortune primarily to serve the mother country’s interests as nineteenth-century capitalism entered the stage of imperialism, and desired even more sources of cheap raw material and as new markets for its products” There relationship between colonizer and colonized in this instance can be characterized by slave/master. Once the colonized people achieved their freedom, a fresh dynamic emerged, which is referred to as neo-colonialism. Post colonial political configuration of power being vested in the elites, added to the factors leading to there being “inner colonialism” at work. In his work, Prospero and Caliban: The Psychology of Colonialism, Octave Mannoni presents his findings on his study of the Malagasian. He hypothesized that because colonialism irreparably destroys the traditional cultural symbols by which an individual constructs his/her reality. The individual is forced to fill the void left after desertion of the colonizer “the omnipresent and omnipotent image of the white colonial overlord.” The white man then becomes the basis for symbolic meaning in the construction of a new reality, which constitutes one possible definition of “inner colonialism.”

The Nigerian government has been joint venture partnership with foreign oil companies since the 1970’s when the industry became nationalized. The government own 55% of Shell’s operation

Post-colonial Nigerian government seized control over the Niger Delta with the passing of the Petroleum Act in 1969, which gave the Federal State the power to seize any land for oil production.

The revenue from oil production has always gone to the federal government, which is then distributed amongst the country states. In the 1990’s at the height of the Shell conflict, the revenue was distributed as such that 55% went to the federal government, 32,5% to the state government, 10% to the local government, 1% to environmental repairs, and 1.5% to the Oil and Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission.

Shell was accused of seeking aid from the Nigerian security forces to end Ogoni protests.

Ogoni Resistance Movement and Leaders

The Ogoni people have never controlled the petroleum revenue. They claim that they although the rest of the country was profiting from oil revenue and thus able to industrialize, they did not see any of the profit and were not being developed along with the rest of the country. Not only did they feel left out of the profit gained by this multi-billion dollar industry, but they were being adversely effected by its activities. Oil production in the Delta left their farmlands devastated and they were not getting any attention, nor receiving any cementation for it.

It is the kind of dehumanizing that occurring in the Bomu II blowout that sparked Ken Saro-Wiwa’s civil rights involvement. In 1968, when we was 27, Saro-Wiwa published a pamphlet titled The Ogoni Nationality Today and Tomorrow, which includes philosophical reflections on his own personal experience but he claims that it was the starting point of his interest in sociopolitical activism and later became a full publicized articulation of the Ogoni struggle. His On a Darkling Plain was a more thorough and direct evaluation of the crisis, which would shake the Nigerian federation to its core.

During the civil war, Saro-Wiwa has served on the Interim Advisory Council of the newly created Rivers States. He was an Administrator for Bonny, an export oil terminal in the Delta, and he was appointed as Commissioner in the Rivers State Cabinet in 1968. Much later, he became the Executive Director of the Directorate of Social Mobilization under General Babangida’s regime, whom Saro-Wiwa would later call, “the conman and dictator of Nigeria.”

The Ogoni people employed indigenous and minority rights rhetoric as well as pleas for social and environmental justice. They drafted the Ogoni Bill of Rights in October 1990, which asserted their loyalty to the Nigerian nation, stated their demands for social, economic, and environmental justice.

Upon the advent of the draft of the Ogoni Bill of Rights, the Ogoni people formed the social organizations titled, “The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) with Ken Saro-Wiwa as spokesperson. Saro-Wiwa presented their case to the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, which was the start to relationships between MOSOP and other worldwide indigenous support groups, human rights, and minority rights organizations.

On December 1991, MOSOP distributed a “demand notice” to Shell, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, and Chevron in which they have the corporations 30 days to comply with. MOSOP demanded compensation for damages done by the oil production. The companies did not respond to the MOSOP’s demands. On January 4th 1993, were declared “persona non grata,” or, “and unwelcomed person.” This day was declared Ogoni Day, the Ogoni people staged a non-violent protest consisting of 300,000 people to stage their disapproval of the federal structure and the devastating effects of the oil activities of Shell. The march got the attention of CNN and Time. The One Naira Survival Fund (ONOSUF) was launched in order to consolidate the gains made by the march. No violence ensued but tensions were clearly rising. Things got violent in aeries of attacks on the Ogoni people in both Ogoni and Port Harcourt resulting in hundreds of deaths. Newspapers reported the conflict as resulting from “ethnic clashes” with neighbors but the Ogoni people understood it as was a punishment for their stance against Shell.

MOSOP’s success is exemplified in their admittance into the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, which also elected Saro-Wiwa as vice chairman.

An internal letter from the Shell Company leaked to the public in November 1993, revealing their intentions to “inspect the facilities with a view to resuming operations at the earliest feasible time.” The next year, another document leaked, this time from the Nigerian Government. This statement implied the government’s intentions to use military force. It was published on the front page the of UK newspaper, The Guardian. The memorandum stated that, “Shell operations still impossible unless military operations are undertaken for smooth economic activities to commence… wasting target cutting across communities and leadership cadres especially vocal individuals.” The memorandum also hinted at Shell paying the Major Okuntimo unit, which is well known for its brutality in Ogoni.

The violence against the Ogoni people climaxed with the arrest of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists who were eventually charged and found guilty of the murder of four pro-government officials, and sentenced to death by hanging by military regime of General Sani Abacha. In the trial, the defense lawyers had to withdraw and no appeal was granted. Shell became the main target for political campaigners and thus, fell under extreme pressure to intervene in the trial. Shell claims that it did in fact call for the government to conduct a fair trial, for humane treatment of the detainees, and the Chairman of the Group wrote to the military dictator asking for clemency. After the death of Saro-Wiwa, MOSOP fell into disarray.

Saro-Wiwa, “Since it [Nigerian military dictatorship] also depend for survival on the availability of oil money, its violence is directed at oil-producing areas such as Ogoni. The military dictatorship holds down oil-producing areas such as Ogoni by military decrees and the threat of or actual use of physical violence so that Shell can wage its ecological war without hindrance ad so produce the oil and petrodollars as well as the international and diplomatic support upon which the military dictatorship depends”

Aftermath

After the execution of the Ogoni Nine by the Nigerian Government, Shell fell under harsh scrutiny by the media. Their deaths inspired the action of numerous civil rights groups and scholars who were curious as to how something like this could happen. This incident posed questions to the global community about human rights and democracy. Pro-democratic activists argue that to gain relevance in a the contemporary world, Nigeria must learn language of socio-political engineering: respect for human rights, democratic governance, public accountability and government transparency. A major part of activist’s goal is to conceptualize and apply a standard of human rights that meet certain international standards.

After the executions came worldwide condemnation of Shell. The media portrayed them as supporters of dictators. In response to the media attack, Shell launched a campaign in major newspapers such as the New York Times, but despite their attempts to “save face,” the ethical responsibilities ignored by the company could not be ignored. Shell found itself having to defend itself against activist groups, investigators, and scholars.

Since the resolution of the conflict, Nigeria’s military ruler, General Abacha returned the country to civilian rule. The political climate has since then freed up significantly and a large number of political activist that were arrested but not tried and executed along with Ken Saro-Wiwa were released. In order to solve outstanding issues, the Niger Delta Development Commission Bill was initiated by he government only to be turned down by MOSOP because it did not meet their standards.

The Shell corporation underwent a series of immense transformations such as the initiation of the Society’s changing expectations’ project, which was an admittance to stakeholders that, “Shell’s economic contribution to society, technology leadership, and product quality are recognized, but on human rights and environmental care Shell is rates poorly both the general public and opinion leaders.” This admittance of wrong doing was echoed in a statement made by Cor Herkstroter, Chairman of the Committee of Managing Directors, that Shell was responsible for “technological arrogance” in regard to the dialogue on environmental and human rights.

Revisions in the Shell Company include a revisitation of their Statement of General Business Principles in favor of supporting human rights in the line of business. In the revision, they also included their intentions to, “give proper regard to health, safety, and the environment consistent sustainable development.” (Shell International, 1997).

Environmental Justice

Environmental justice, as defined by Bullard is the principle that, “all people and communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental and public health laws and regulations.” As defined by the EPA, it is the “Fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Fair treatment means that no population, due to policy or economic disempowerment is forced to bear a disproportionate or environmental consequences resulting fro industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies” As we can see from the operations of Shell in Nigeria, the Ogoni people suffered environmental injustice based of these definitions. The indigenous Ogoni people were underrepresented in their governments and thus, had no means of alleviating the sufferings caused by oil production in the Delta. They were successful in attracting global attention and eventually removing Shell’s activities from their environment but it came at a great price. The killing of the 9 activists, including Saro-Wiwa, along with the numerous other deaths caused by the oil spills and industrial pollution, is a reminder to the world that the dignity of human life needs to be placed in priority over capital gain.