Emmanuel Ukudolo
November 4, 2015 – Amnesty International (AI) has said that Shell lied about its clean up exercise in the heavily polluted Niger Delta area, Nigeria.
The Niger Delta is the biggest oil-producing region in Africa, with Shell operating about 50 oil fields and 5,000 km of pipelines.
Shell says there are a total of 1,693 oil spills in the area since 2007.
However Al and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) said in a new report that claims by Shell that it has cleaned up heavily polluted areas of the Niger Delta twice in 1975 and 2012 are blatantly false.
In the report, which is being published to mark the 20th anniversary of the execution, on 10 November 1995, of the environmental activist and writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa, AI said it visited some of the site purported to have been cleaned and discovered that nothing of such took place.
The report also indicted Nigeria’s watchdog, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), which it said is under-resourced and continues to certify areas as clean that are visibly polluted with crude oil.
“In field investigations at four of the spill sites UNEP identified as highly polluted in 2011, Amnesty International and CEHRD found all four remain visibly contaminated in 2015, even though Shell says it has cleaned them. The investigation demonstrates this is due to inadequate clean-up, and not new oil spills.
“At one of the locations, Shell’s Bomu Well 11, researchers found blackened soil and layers of oil on the water, 45 years after an oil spill took place – even though Shell claims to have cleaned it up twice, in 1975 and 2012. At other sites, certified as cleaned by the Nigerian regulator, researchers found soil and water contaminated by oil close to where people lived and farmed.
“The investigation shows Shell has not addressed problems with its entire approach to cleaning up oil pollution in Nigeria, including how it trains and oversees the local contractors that actually conduct the work.
“One contractor who had been hired by Shell told Amnesty International how half-hearted and superficial clean-up efforts fail to prevent lasting environmental damage: This is just a cover up. If you just dig down a few metres you find oil. We just excavated, then shifted the soil away, then covered it all up again,” AI noted.
Human Rights researcher at AI, Mr. Mark Dummett noted that by leaving the area polluted, Shell is leaving thousands of women, men and children exposed to contaminated land, water and air, in some cases for years or even decades.
“Oil spills have a devastating impact on the fields, forests and fisheries that the people of the Niger Delta depend on for their food and livelihood. Anyone who visits these spill sites can see and smell for themselves how the pollution has spread across the land,” he said.
In the report, communities told Al and CEHRD how lingering pollution after oil spills had contaminated the land and rivers that nearly two-thirds of the Niger Delta’s people rely on for food and livelihood.
“Our creeks are no more. Fishing activity is no more productive. The farm I should be farming has already been devastated by oil spills from Shell. Our crops are no longer productive. No fish in the water. We plant the crops, they grow but the harvest is poor.
“When Shell came to our community, they promised that if they find oil they’ll transform our community, and everybody will be happy… Instead we got nothing from it, Emadee Roberts Kpai, farmer from Kegbara Dere, Ogoniland told AI.
The report is part of Amnesty International’s Clean It Up campaign, which calls on Shell to finally deal with the devastating impact of oil spills in Niger Delta.
The campaign involves special vigils and protest actions outside Shell petrol stations ahead of the 20th anniversary of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s execution after an unfair trial on 10 November 1995.
