Shell Nigeria to face environmental crimes in Niger Delta

In the case of Shell v 4 Niger Deltan farmers and fishermen, the court at the Hague has confirmed that the Dutch courts do have jurisdiction over Shell Nigeria. The case was filed by Friends of the Earth Netherlands and four farmers in the Niger Delta each from a different village – Goi, Oruma and Ikot Ada Udo .

The four Nigerian farmers , who initiated the lawsuit together with Friends of the Earth Netherlands, come from three different villages. They have been severely affected by oil that flowed from a leaking Shell pipeline and polluted their farm lands and fish ponds. They demand that Shell clean up the oil left in the soil and compensate them for the damage to the environment and their possessions. They also want Shell to improve its maintenance of the pipelines and facilities in the future.

The first case is due to take place in the spring and relates to an oil spill in Oruma (Bayelsa State) in 2005 which left the fishing pond and farm land of Alai Efanga sodden with oil and unfit for fishing or farming. This is now the third lawsuit in the past 12 months filed against multinational oil companies operating in Nigeria. The first, Bowoto v. Chevron although the plaintiffs technically lost, the case represented a landmark victory both in terms of achieving a trial and of corporate accountability. The second took place in May this year when the families of the Ogoni 9 murdered [including Ken Saro-Wiwa] by the Nigerian state on 10th November 1995, sued Royal Dutch Petroleum, Shell Petroleum Development Corporation and Brian Anderson former CEO of the SPDC. The case was settled out of court on 9th June 2009 for a sum of $15.5 million. As I wrote at the time this was a victory of sorts but the question remains as to whether justice was done.

While the families of the Ogoni 9 can celebrate a partial victory and breath a sigh of relief in the fact that years of anxiety and hard work in bringing the case to court are now over, it is hard not to think that there will remain a bitter after-taste of polluted waters, poisoned rivers, noxious gases, toxic fumes and destroyed communities living under stress and exploitation – a burden borne by the Ogoni people over decades. The destruction of their communities and environment has to be laid at the door both of the multinational corporations, including Shell, as well as the Nigerian state.

That Shell were forced to pay – albeit without admission of guilt – is a victory of sorts. But we should be careful, in the euphoria of the moment, not to confuse that victory with justice. It is justice neither for the families of the Ogoni 9, nor for the Ogoni people. That struggle for justice, and the bringing to justice of those who carry out such crimes, remains still the task of the day.

The present case is quite different to the previous two which both dealt with the complicity of Chevron and Shell in the death of the respective plaintiffs. This case however directly addresses the environmental crimes committed by Shell which if successful will set the precedent for similar cases to be brought against other oil companies in Nigeria and Ecuador.

Links to Friends of the Earth Netherlands legal documents on the case

 

Exit Shell?

A possible exit strategy from Nigeria by Shell would be to sell its total assets. Who would buy? A Nigerian consortium or possibly Sinopec or China National .

OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell could sidestep tougher restrictions on foreign companies in Nigeria and constant violence against its workers by selling its onshore assets in the turbulent African country in deals that would deliver the company an estimated £3bn.

Shell yesterday declined to comment on reports that it had already put some of its Nigerian assets on the block.

The Anglo-Dutch group, which this year outlined its concern about safety for oil workers and property in Nigeria, has reportedly instructed Ann Pickard, Shell’s highest ranking Nigeria-based executive, to explore avenues for disposals.

In the running to pick up the oil fields are Sinopec, China’s state-owned oil company, as well as Nigerian group Oando and London-listed Afren.

Any exit from Nigeria would pre-empt moves by the government there to extract more from foreign fuel companies by forcing them to pay company tax for the first time and a new hydro carbon tax.

Shell has just signed a huge deal in Iraq to develop the Majnoon oilfield. It will be interesting to observe the safety issues faced by Shell in Iraq. Only last week a pipeline running between Kirkuk and Turkey was blown up.

 

Niger Delta farmers sue Shell

Today is the start of a landmark court brought by four farmers from the Niger Delta against Shell Oil.

The Nigerian farmers and fishers, who lost their livelihoods after oil from leaking Shell pipelines streamed over their fields and fishing ponds, are claiming compensation from the Anglo-Dutch oil giant. They also want Shell to clean up the oil which remains in the land, so that they can return to farming and fishing.

The four victims of the leaks are from three Nigerian villages.

They have subpoenaed both Shell’s subsidiary in Nigeria and Shell’s Dutch headquarters. They allege that as the result of Shell’s negligence, agricultural lands have been devastated, drinking water polluted, fish ponds made unusable and the environment and health of local people harmed.

Continue reading the case here

Links : Shell Guilty

 

A Post Petroleum Nigeria

A meeting of civil society organisations, lawyers, media, academics in Port Harcourt to discuss the future of oil in the Niger Delta and it’s impact on climate change and sustainability have issued a strong militant statement to the Federal Government.  The meeting was chaired by Nnimmo Bassey, the Director of Environmental Rights Action who described the comminuqe as

117 organisations signing on to the most militant statement of its sort
I’ve yet seen – formidable!

The Comminuque is published below.
Global warming and other grave environmental hazards are primarily a
result of extractive activities, particularly oil extraction.

Over five decades of oil extraction in Nigeria have not impacted
positively on the citizenry and particularly the people of the Niger
Delta, whose livelihoods have been eroded because of regular pollution
of farmlands and rivers.

Women, children and other vulnerable persons in the Niger Delta and
other resource-bearing communities across the country have been made
vulnerable due to resource conflicts and are exposed to severe human
rights abuse.

By failing to halt gas flaring in the Niger Delta, the Nigerian
government has demonstrated a lack of preparedness to committing to
reduce the effects of climate change even as it joins climate talks in
Copenhagen

Violent conflicts and criminality in the Niger Delta region and
particularly in oil-bearing communities are direct results of corruption
rooted in the operations of oil industry.

Life expectancy in the Niger Delta has continued to decline yearly as a
result of environmental pollution in the region and today stands at an
appalling 41 years.

There is flagrant disregard for international standards in the oil
industry particularly the non-observance of Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) on projects with far-reaching impacts on local communities.

The Federal Government’s planned deregulation of the downstream oil
sector will only benefit a profiteering cabal in the country and not the
vast majority of the population.

The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as currently prepared by the Federal
Government is fundamentally flawed and is anti-people as it neither
allows for communities to be notified of risks nor seeks their
endorsement for environmental management plans. In addition to numerous
gaps, the PIB does not offer sufficient penalties to deter infringement
of its provisions.

Nigeria’s oil industry is still rife with oil theft and inaccuracy in
volumes of oil extracted and what is actually made public, and makes a
nonsense of governments touted policy on transparency and accountability

The amnesty programme of the Federal Government is yet to address key
human rights and developmental challenges in the Niger Delta and may
fail with unimaginable consequences.

Ecological funds meant for remediation have been regularly diverted to
other uses that do not have a bearing on impacted environments.

Massive land grabs promoted by agribusinesses and oil corporations erode
traditional farming practices on the African continent.

The Nigerian government is yet to demonstrate sufficient commitment to
growing the national economy by failure to fund research and qualitative
education in addition to poorly thought-out policies that promote
disruption in the educational sector.

There is low awareness on environmental issues in the country.

Participants therefore strongly recommend that:

All new oil finds must be left in the ground. The planned exploitation
of bitumen should be halted as the extraction will inflict unmitigated
disaster on communities and raise new levels of conflicts.

The Leave Oil in the Ground message should be popularized.

Gas flaring is a violation of the rights of Nigerians to life as is
enshrined in the constitution and must end today

The Federal Government must take steps to ascertain and publish the
volumes of oil extracted daily in the nation. As a follow up to this, it
must take immediate steps to stop all forms of oil theft.

A need exists for mass awareness and mobilization of local communities
to resist gas flaring and other unfriendly environmental practices in
the Niger Delta and other parts of Nigeria where resource conflicts are
a growing reality.

The authentic Petroleum Industry Bill must address genuine concerns of
the oil-bearing communities by seeking their endorsement on
environmental management plans. It must also proffer sufficient
penalties for infringement of the provisions.

Any provision in the Petroleum Industry Bill that is aimed at
expropriating land and resources from the people must be abrogated.

Political leadership of the Niger Delta must judiciously use the
resources of the region for development.

The amnesty programme of the Federal Government should address the real
issues of underdevelopment in the Niger Delta and open channels for
genuine reconciliation of all aggrieved people of the region.

The Nigerian state must fund qualitative education and indigenous
research to address challenges of development.

Women and the vulnerable in the society must be protected from the
fallouts of resource conflicts while identified cases of violation of
their rights must be adequately redressed.

All stakeholders-communities, civil society groups, government agencies,
the media, among others, must work collaboratively to expose unsound
environmental practices and mobilize for laws that will reverse the trend.

In conclusion, we are united in our opposition to new oil blocs and call
on all progressive-minded peoples and organizations to support our call
that new oil finds be left in the ground and bitumen left in the soil.

Signed:
Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
Host Communities Network (HoCoN)
Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST), Ibadan
Social Action, Port Harcourt
Nigeria Cassava Growers Association
African Centre for Leadership Strategy and Development, Abuja
Environment, Health and Communication Initiative
Persons with Disabilities Action Network (PEDANET)
United Action for Democracy (UAD)
Conflict Resolution Trainers Network (CROTIN)
Grace Fellowship Africa
Students Environmental Assembly
Campaigners for Justice, Equity and Fairness (CJEF), Benin City
Society for the Rights of the Girl Child
Women Environmental Programme
Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER)
Council for Leadership and Development (CLD)
Society for Empowerment and Self-Reliance (SESER)
Youth Empowerment and Child Labor Elimination Project (YCEP)
Foundation for Conservation of the Earth (FOCONE)
Green Concern for Development (Green Code), formerly ABGREMO, Calabar
Centre for Rural Integration and Development
UGREEN Foundation
Development Information Network (DEVNET)
Child Health Organisation
Concern for Habitat Development
LEAP Foundation
Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA)
Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group
Children Initiative
Centre for Development Communications (CENDEC)
National Point Newspapers
Foundation Against Social Trauma and Environmental Ravage (FASTER)
Wildlife Preservation Trust
Trade Network Initiative (TNI)
Centre for Socio-Economic Development
HRJPF
Movement for Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP)
CEHRD
Oruma Community
Ogoni Solidarity Forum
Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
HEDA, Lagos
People Against Drug Dependence and Ignorance (PADDI)
Gender Awareness and Development Associates (GADA)
Centre for Development Support Initiatives
CUAED
Nurses Across Borders
Institute for Dispute Resolution
Kebet Kache Women Development and Resource Centre
Environ-Green Integrated Initiative
Alfred Ozo Foundation
Social Development Integrated Centre (SDIC)
Centre for Human Empowerment, Advancement and Development
Association for Promotion of Human Development, Gombe State
Bamidele Aturu & Co
Women and Children Life Advancement Initiative, Katsina State
Foundation for Sustainable Development
Care for Youth Initiative
Future of Our Environment
CIC Benin
Centre for Development Support Initiatives (CEDSI-Nigeria)
OGDEMOVE
Centre for Social and Corporate Responsibility (CSCR) Port Harcourt
Hand of Hope Foundation
Friends of the Needy and Oppressed Foundation (FONAO) Foundation
Centre for the Advancement of Children and Women Rights
Centre for Creative Arts Education, Port Harcourt
Goodwill Homage Foundation
Green Earth Links
The Olive -Child Foundation
Mag Foundation for Women
Freshfields Solicitors, Port Harcourt
Our Niger Delta
River Ethiope Trust Foundation
Gender and Development Action
Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO)
Peculiar People Foundation
Impact and Systems International, Abuja
Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), Ijebu-Ode
Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation (CENCOD), Lagos
Imo Mass Movement
Women in Technology Education and Employment
Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Abuja
Basic Rights Action
Legal Hands, Benin City
Rural Women and Youth Development Initiative, Ikom, Cross Rivers State
Koyenum Immalah Foundation (Publish What you Pay)
Save Earth Nigeria
Peace and Development Projects
Neighborhood Environmentwatch Foundation
Organisation for Sustenance of the Nigerian Environment
Ijaw Council for Human Rights
Association for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) Gombe
Women Centre for Quality Living and Practice, Benin City
Campaign for Democracy
Gender Environmental and Sustenable Development Initiative (GENSDI)
ANPEZ Centre for Environment and Development
Peace and Development Projects (PEDEP)
100. African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ)
101. D.U Akamakusi & Associates
102. Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA)
103.Niger Delta Coastal Communities Development Association
ND-COCODA
104. Christars Global Development Foundation, Port Harcourt
105. African Center for Sustainable Livelihoods (AFRICSUL)
106. Iwherekan Community, Delta State
107. Africa Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR)
108. Community Forest Watch (CFW), Iguobazuwa, Edo State
109. Singles & Success Organisation
110. Academic Foundation Network, Ete Community
111. Gender Action Group
112. Climate Change Network Nigeria (CCN)
113. Niger Delta Development Initiative (NDDI)
114. Environmental Outreach Magazine, Yenagoa
115. FISHCAREPLUS
116. Oilwatch Africa
117. Publish What You Pay

 

Okah, Senators beg MEND on ceasefire

By Emma Amaize, George Onah, Emmanuel Aziken, Henry Umoru & Laide Akinboade
WARRI — As the three-month unilateral ceasefire declared by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) expires today, its leader, Henry Okah, as well as Senators and other stakeholders have urged the group to extend the ceasefire just as Ijaw leader, Chief E.K. Clarke declared that the amnesty granted the militants by the Federal Government is failing.

The Federal Government, on its part, has denied the plan by the United States Government to assist the country wipe out militants from the Niger Delta in order to protect American investments in the region.

Spokesman of the militant group, Jomo Gbomo in an exclusive online interview with Vanguard, yesterday, confirmed, that “Henry Okah is among those who have asked us to extend the ceasefire and we are considering all the options we have”.

He, however, pointed out, “Nothing is certain until the expiration of the ceasefire. Anything is possible”.
Commenting on the meeting Sunday with leader of Camp 5, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, by the Minister of Defence, Major-General Godwin Abbe (rtd), Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta state, former chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih and others, he said, “If the men from Abuja are meeting Tompolo to give a time frame for discussions on the root issues, that is understandable, but if they are there to threaten him to disarm, accept amnesty and be a ‘good boy’ then that is not going to be acceptable to him, I believe”.

 

Nigerian government prepares to attack Niger Delta

President Yar’Adu is reported to be preparing a full major offensive against Niger Delta as soon as the ceasefire declared by militants ends on tomorrow, September 15th.

And this time, Nigerian military forces will be using special warships, helicopter gunships and troop transports, and unmanned drone intelligence planes and ships sold to Nigeria by Israeli, Malaysian, Singaporean, Dutch and Russian companies.

Israeli and Russian instructors have been providing specialised training to Nigerian Navy and Air Force sailors and pilots in how to operate the ships and helicopters over the past few months, and some of these instructors may help operate them during the offensive.

This is despite the  amnesty offered by the Nigerian government which is not due to end until October 4th.  If the offensive takes place it will be the second in 6 months when the Gbaramatu Kingdom in South West Warri was attacked and bombed by the Joint Task Force.     Towns and villages were destroyed in the attacks leaving thousands displaced. The exact number of dead is not yet known.   Thousands of women and children remain in refugee camps as I write, many of whom have been preparing to return to their homes in the next few weeks.  If previous offensives are anything to go by, the attacks will be indiscriminate with thousands of civilians being killed, displaced and their homes and farms destroyed.   Those foreign governments supplying the weapons and training to Nigeria are also culperable in the offensive as they are fully aware of the intended targets.

And this time, Nigerian military forces will be using special warships, helicopter gunships and troop transports, and unmanned drone intelligence planes and ships sold to Nigeria by Israeli, Malaysian, Singaporean, Dutch and Russian companies.

Israeli and Russian instructors have been providing specialised training to Nigerian Navy and Air Force sailors and pilots in how to operate the ships and helicopters over the past few months, and some of these instructors may help operate them during the offensive.

Links:

War for oil

Niger Delta

US military in Nigeria

 

Into the heart of the Niger Delta oil war

By Michael Peel Published: September 12 2009 01:26 | Last updated: September 12 2009 03:42 A woman dries cassava in the heat from Shell waste gas flares As our speedboat casts off from Yenagoa, in the heart of the Niger Delta, I feel as if I am being propelled into a more welcoming world. A bracing wind replaces the humid closeness of the town, a monument to disorder clustered around a single, thunderous main road. The foliage on either side of the water is thick and lush, with oil palms peeping over the top of the tree line. The river traffic – mainly canoes loaded with goods such as fish, wood and plantains – clings to the banks to avoid being capsized by our wake. I am travelling with a few guides and a fellow journalist, Glenn McKenzie, in search of the Niger Delta’s main militant movement: the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or Mend. The organisation had attacked oil installations and kidnapped dozens of oil workers, prompting the big companies to send non-essential staff home and shut down hundreds of thousands of barrels a day of production. Members of Mend. The white flag signifies the Ijaw god, Egbesu Soon we pass a village where a long white flag flutters from a post. It’s a symbol of Egbesu, a water spirit central to the culture of the Ijaw people, the largest ethnic group in the region. Simeon, one of the guides, explains that white flags represent peace; red, fighting spirit. If you are killed in battle, it means not that Egbesu has failed you, but that you have violated its laws. As Simeon puts it bluntly, “You oppress, you steal, you will die.” For the western oil majors, long used to a bit of heat, the security crisis was as bad as they had known. By this summer, estimates of Nigerian ­production ranged from 1.6 million barrels a day to as low as 800,000 barrels a day, all far distant from the 4 million barrels-a-day target for 2010. In July, an increasingly desperate government announced a two-month amnesty in an effort to tempt the militants out of the creeks.

 

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT UMARU MUSA YAR’ADUA ON THE NIGER DELTA by Tompolo

HIGH CHIEF GOVERNMENT EKEPEMUPOLO

IBE EBIDOUWEI OF IJAWLAND

2, Palace Road Oporoza Town Gbaranmatu Kingdom, Delta State.

24^th August 2009

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT UMARU MUSA YAR’ADUA ON THE NIGER DELTA.

MR. PRESIDENT

I am Chief Government Ekepemupolo, referred to in good and odd times as Tompolo. I have played my insignificant roles religiously in the determined struggle of the Ijaw, nay Niger Delta, nationalities since 1993 against insensitive multinational corporations and the state. In 2003, I left the average God given comfort of my life without prompting and moved into our beautiful creeks of the Delta of the Niger (reversal mine) among others, to advance our divine and just cause. Till date, I do not plan nor envisage a return to the artificial cities of Warri, Port Harcourt, Lagos and Abuja with your response trend to our struggle.

The intellectual and political agitation of our people predates Nigeria’s independence hurried as it seems today; and the same fundamental and core issues remain unsuppressed and ever daring despite conscious attempts by successive regimes to simplify them through unending conference talks and committees without attending to the recommendations there from..

Reform proposals, from the Willinks Commission of 1958 through Gen. Ogomudia’s special Security Report to the Mitee Technical Committee, abound. Candidly, your committee on amnesty and its arm dealing with disarmament in content and operations are the same to the purified ramifications of our structured struggle. Who is deceiving who?

 

War on Gas Flaring

©Photo by Sokari Ekine 2000

In May this year, the Nigerian government once again extended the deadline to end gas flaring…Gas flaring is the burning of the natural gas that is produced on the surface during the production process. The flares are either blown off in the sky or in giant sized low level pits on the ground and are in the midst of villages and farmland. They burn gas that produces huge flames and toxic gases. This latest postponement is one in a series  dating back to a December 2007  deadline which which was preceeded by  the original flare-out date of 1984. For a full report on the impact of toxic flares see ERA.

Niger Delta communities have since organised themselves under the umbrella of “Host Communities of Nigeria Producers of Oil and Gas (HOSTCOM)” and will be taking direct action to once and for all force the government into ending this practice.

“You cannot shift the date (for stopping gas flaring) any longer. As from October (next month) the HOSTCOM will take the bull by the horns, gas flaring will be stopped by force whether the Federal Government and the oil companies like it or not,” the group’s coordinator, Mike Emu, said in Benin.

“It is going to be a battle to be fought by the youth, the so called militants, the women and HOSTCOM. It would be a battle royale. But all that government and the oil companies need to do to avert the ‘war’ is to stop gas flaring between now and October and pay up all the outstanding gas flaring penalty levies. From October anything can happen in the region.”

 

South-South governors rise in one strong voice against injustice on their land, people

Friday, July 31, 2009

Some policy shift of the Federal Government has triggered credibility problem, threatening the fragile amnesty deal expected to calm frayed nerves in the Niger Delta. Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt), Hendrix Oliomogbe (Asaba), Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu (Benin), Inem Akpan Nsoh (Uyo), Anietie Akpan (Calabar), Joe Adiorho (Lagos) and Willie Etim (Yenagoa) report on the unfolding drama.

“OUR concerns are the amnesty programme, relocation of the University of Petroleum Technology Bill.

“We believe that every effort must not only be made towards lasting peace in the South-South region but also national peace to avoid an exercise in futility.”

With these words, Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke, also Chairman of the South-South Governors’ Forum, earlier this week in Lagos summed the South-South governors’ protest against the Federal Government’s handling of the Amnesty declared on June 25 by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

“We want a sustainable programme not lip-service and it is so important that the programme could only work by carrying along all stakeholders. ..” he continued summing up the case of the region against recent actions of the Federal Government that have seemingly negated the very essence of the declared Amnesty.

Since 2005 when militancy assumed new dimensions in the country, threatening the very existence of the federation and almost crippling the revenue base of the government, the Federal Government has been in a quandary on how to respond.

When the May 2009 military option failed in flushing out “brigands” and cowing “criminals” in the South-South, the Federal Government came out with the face-saving option of an amnesty for all militants who surrendered their weapons and renounced armed struggle. The six South-South governors and some of their people accepted it; they were even helping to persuade their “sons” in the creeks to accept the offer for peace to reign.

Thus, the governors would probably not have stirred the hornet’s nest if Petroleum Minister, Lukman, had not unfolded the Petroleum Institute’s new siting policy after last week Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja.