Sabotage, Lawsuits, and Outrage
What Comes of Outrage
While Nixon explains, "Shell was driven out of Ogoniland in 1993" this wasn’t the end of Shell Oil in the region because "it simply moved on to other parts of Nigeria's once lush delta of death" (107). Naomi Klein, author and social activist, states that this complete cease of oil production in this land “remains one of the most significant achievements of grassroots environmental activism anywhere in the world” (306).
The death of Ken Saro-Wiwa didn’t end discussion for those involved in the mess along the Niger Delta. According to Michael Watts in the book Curse of the Black Gold , in 2003, 70% of the country's oil wealth was stolen or wasted, and it was 40% in 2005. Between the years of 1970 and 2000, the number of people living on less than $1 per day went from 19 million to 90 million (43). Due to a dissatisfaction with the way of life due to the oil spills, groups of men began to form in shared outrage over their inability to find jobs and support their families. According to The Council on Foreign Relations, 2006 marked the formation of the militant group known as Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or as it is called: MEND (Hanson). MEND had three major goals to achieve.
1) For one, the group wanted the release of Asari from prison. Dokubo-Asari is a political figure for the ljaw ethnic group and founder of an armed group known as Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (Hanson).
2) According to Nixon, the group also demanded that "the people" would get 50 percent of oil revenue from the Delta as dictated by the 1960 constitution (106).
3) Finally, the group sought the withdrawal of government troops from the land of the Niger Delta.
According to Britannica, January of 2006 the group kidnapped four foreign Shell oil workers. This group seemed to have organization that previous groups lacked. Two Shell oilfields estimated a loss of 477,000 barrels of oil per day due to attacks by this MEND ("Nigeria"). The group only escalated from there. By 2007 the group had held over 50 oil workers for ransom. It wasn't until 2009 when the government began an amnesty program that the group declared a ceasefire (Hanson).
Within the Law
In 2008, four Nigerian citizens along with an organization called Friends of the Earth filed a civil suit in the Netherlands against Shell Oil. While Shell Oil argued that they had cleaned up the region to the satisfaction of authorities of Nigeria, the Friends of the Earth were adamant that the effects on the vegetation was not unsubstantial. In 2013 it was ruled that Shell would have to take some responsibility for the Niger Delta pollution, regardless of sabotage that they should have taken preventative measures to stop. The desired outcome was for Shell to repair the damages in the community by cleaning up oil spillage, maintaining pipelines better to prevent future occurrences of spillage, and to pay compensation to villagers who had lost their livelihood (Timeline-Shell in Nigeria).
CNN published an article discussing how in 2011, the Nigerian Government, along with the oil company Shell, were criticized in a report after a 2-year study by the U.N. Environmental Program that was outraged at the 50 years of pollution in Ogoniland. The study focused on 69 sites in Ogoniland and revealed several concerns, both for the health of the environment and for the people that lived there. CNN estimated $1 billion and 30 years are necessary to clean up the land. By the following year, over 10,000 people from Bodo, Ogoniland filed a suit against Shell. The group sought millions of dollars to repay the people for two major spills in 2008 ("Farmers sue oil giant").
While oil pollution in the Niger River Delta is not news, it hasn't been eased yet. It continues to be an important issue. According to the environmental affairs magazine Ecologist, in 2015, Shell had to pay over $75 million to citizens of Nigeria that were suffering from oil pollution after oil spills in 2008 and 2009 (Tickell). The same article explains in 2016 a UK High Court judge has now moved to proceed on two new cases against Shell Nigeria on behalf of the Ogale Community in Ogoniland and the Bille Kingdom. The people of the Niger River Delta still continue to suffer the pollution and loss of livelihoods. It seems unlikely that the situation will be completely resolved anytime soon.
References
Hanson, Stephanie. "MEND: The Niger Delta’s Umbrella Militant Group." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 22 Mar. 2007. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
"Nigeria". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 19 Apr. 2016. <http://www.britannica.com/place/Nigeria/Military-regimes-1983-99>
Tickell, Oliver. "53,000 Nigerian Oil Spill Victims Press New Shell Lawsuits." Ecologist. 2 Mar. 2016. Print.
"TIMELINE-Shell in Nigeria." Web log post. Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 30 Jan. 2013. Web.
Watts, Michael. "Sweet and Sour."Curse of Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta. Ed Kashi and Michael Watts, eds. Brooklyn: PowerHouse Books, 2008. 36-47. Print.
