AI accuses Shell of ignoring oil spill image DW

LAGOS, (CAJ News) – SHELL, the global oil giant, has lurched into another controversy in Nigeria where it is blamed for the disastrous oil spills after 50 years of extraction.
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) alleged the firm’s subsidiary in the West African country, Shell Petroleum Development Company, had destroyed crops in the region with the backing of the army.
The destruction is said to have commenced during the laying of pipelines in Ogoni, reportedly without the consent of the people.
“MOSOP considers the action of Shell to be callous, insensitive and a complete negation of the principles of business in any civilized society,” said Fegalo Nsuke, Publicity Secretary of MOSOP.
“We note that Shell’s conduct in Ogoniland in recent weeks do not only threaten food security but is also leading to apprehension with attendant heart related problems for our people.”
Nsuke raised concern Shell had reportedly not conducted an environmental impact assessment on how its current activities impact the lives of local communities.
“Rather, it is now destroying livelihoods with attendant implications for food shortages. We condemn these actions and call on Shell to withdraw its men and soldiers from Ogoniland.”
Shell had not responded to the MOSOP allegations.
In 1956, four years before Nigerian independence, Royal Dutch/Shell, in collaboration with the British government, found a commercially viable oil field on the Niger Delta and began oil production in 1958.
Between 1976 and 1991, there were reportedly about 3 000 oil spills of about 2,1 million barrels of oil in Ogoniland.
According to statistics, it accounted for about 40 percent of the total oil spills of the company worldwide.
In a 2011 assessment of over 200 locations in Ogoniland by the United
Nations Environment Programme , they found that impacts of the 50 years of oil production in the region extended deeper than previously thought.
– CAJ News