AI Reacts to Claims against Shell in Niger Delta

Amnesty International (AI) has demanded that Shell must clean up the oil spill that has devastated numerous communities in Nigeria’s Niger Delta due to the company’s oil operations.

Development Diaries reports that the human rights organisation made the demand while reacting to the news that the people of Ogale and Bille communities in Rivers State, southern Nigeria, have filed claims against Shell.

The case was filed by Leigh Day, a UK law firm, at the London High Court on Thursday, 02 February, 2023.

The communities are asking that the company cleans up oil spills, which they say have wrecked their livelihoods, poisoned their wells, and polluted their land and water.

About 560 spill incidents in Nigeria were recorded in 2022 alone, according to data from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA). Based on this data, about 18,776.814 barrels of oil (2,966,736.565 litres) were spilt.

‘Had this level of contamination and pollution occurred in Europe or North America, it is hard to imagine that there would not have been swift and severe consequences and legal redress’, AI Nigeria Director, Osai Ojigho, said in a statement.

Also speaking, AI’s Head of Business and Human Rights, Mark Dummett, said, ‘It is concerning that Shell has not explained how it plans to address the widespread and systemic pollution of Nigerian communities linked to its operations over many years before it sells up and leaves’.

However, a Shell spokesperson, according to Al Jazeera, said the majority of spills related to the Ogale and Bille claims were caused by illegal third-party interference.

‘We believe litigation does little to address the real problem in the Niger Delta: oil spills due to crude oil theft, illegal refining and sabotage, with which SPDC [Shell Petroleum Development Company] is constantly faced and which cause the most environmental damage’, the news platform quoted the unnamed spokesperson as saying.

Picture Source: Amnesty International

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