Oil Politics....Factsheet on the Ogoni Struggle

The Ogoni are a people of approximately 500 000, who live in Ogoni, a region in Rivers State, Nigeria. The region of Ogoni only has an area of 650 square kilometers, resulting in a very high population density. Despite this high population density, the extraordinary fertility of the Niger delta has historically allowed the Ogoni to make a good living as subsistence farmers and fishing people. Currently, however, this lifestyle is being threatened. A MOSOP statement reads: "The once-beautiful Ogoni countryside is no more a source of fresh air and green vegetation. All one sees and feels around is death."

The threat to the Ogoni people started when Shell discovered oil there in 1958. At that time, Nigeria was still under British colonial rule, and the Ogoni had no say in the oil exploitation. With the coming of independence in 1960 the Ogoni situation did not improve - being a minority ethnic group in a country which has a current population of 88 million, the Ogoni have never had an effective say in Nigerian politics.

Shell operations in Nigeria are operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in a joint venture agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Almost 14% of Shell's production - the greatest production outside the USA - comes from Nigeria. Since Shell started operations in Nigeria, Ogoni has yielded about 30 billion dollars in oil revenues. The Nigerian state is heavily dependent on oil sales, with oil accounting for around 80% of government revenue. In fact, the oil industry is at present the only part of the Nigerian economy which hasn't largely collapsed. (Although under Abacha's regime, the NNPC has been unable to meet its commitments to joint venture partners in the oil industry, largely due to Abacha's disastarous economic policy)

The environment effects of having more than 100 oil wells (most of which are Shell owned) in Ogoni territory have been severe.

Between 1976 and 1991, almost 3000 seperate oil spills, averaging 700 barrels each, occured in the Niger delta. Response to oil spills is slow, and often very damaging. A major spill at Ebubu in 1970 was set alight, causing irreperable damage to the ground it spilled on. Though the area of the spill is unuseable, and still leaks oil into surrounding water supplies, Shell has it recorded having been cleaned up twice. The more recent experience of Osaro Okochi, a farmer from Eleme, who was still waiting for a pipeline to be fixed 6 weeks after it started leaking, shows that Shell has not improved its record since.

Oil spills are not the only environmental disaster the Ogoni have to deal with. Gas flares, burning 24 hours a day (some of them for the last 30 years), are often situated near Ogoni villages. The villagers have to live with the constant noise of the flare, and the area is covered in thick soot, which contaminates water supplies when it rains. Air pollution from the flares results in acid rain and respiratory problems in the surrounding community. Shell pipelines pass above ground through villages and over what was once agricultural land. Despite Shell's claims to the contrary, no pipeline has ever been re-routed. A case in the UK, where a pipeline required 17 different environmental surveys before construction, highlights the extent of Shell's environmental racism in Ogoni - the Ogoni have never seen a single environmental impact assesment.

The Nigerian government echoes Shell's lack of concern for the effects that oil production have had on the Ogoni people. In response to enquiries from Katma Films during the making of 'The Drilling Fields', the Nigerian High Commision in London had this to say: "Ogoni land is one of the first places in Nigeria in which oil prospection was undertaken. It is, therefore, true to expect that the environmental impact could be more pronounced."

The Ogoni Struggle against Shell
'We either win this war to save our land, or we will be exterminated, because we have nowhere to run to.'

• Ken Saro-Wiwa, MOSOP
  To protest against Shell's actions and the Nigerian government's indifference, the Ogoni people founded MOSOP, the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, in 1992, under the leadership of the Nigerian author, Ken Saro-Wiwa. This is how Saro-Wiwa has described their struggle: "The Ogoni people have now decided to make a last ditch stand against the government and against Shell that have ripped them off for the last 35 years." On Monday the 4th of January, 1993, 300 000 Ogoni staged a peaceful mass protest against Shell Oil and the environmental destruction of Ogoni land. This was timed to coincide with the start of the world year of indigenous people.
  
  The situation in Ogoni soon deteriorated. As a response to the beating of a Shell worker in January 1993, Shell withdrew its staff from Ogoni. A memo from a February meeting of Shell in London cautioned Shell PA departments to keep each other informed to ensure to "avoid unpleasant surprises." Ken Saro-Wiwa was specifically mentioned in the memo. In April, Saro-Wiwa was subjected to continual military harassment, including being held at Port Harcourt International Airport for 16 hours without charge. April also saw the first use of major military force against Ogoni protests - on the 30th of April, 10 000 Ogoni people protested at Nonwa against the construction of a pipeline by the American contracting firm Willbros on behalf of Shell. They were fired on by Nigerian soldiers, wounding 10 people. Mrs Korgbara, whose land was being bulldozed to lay the pipeline, lost her arm in the incident.

Shell's response to criticism

Shell's response to criticism has largely been to deny that there is a problem. Shell Nigeria's 1995 publication 'The Ogoni Issue' states "allegations of environmental devastation in Ogoni, and elsewhere in our operating area, are simply not true. We do have environmental problems but these do not add up to anything like devastation." Yet, in the same pamphlet, Shell admits to the existence of 3000 sites effected by drilling operations, spread across the Delta, the flaring of 1100 million standard cubic feet of gas a day, and the occurence of acid rain one month a year in the Delta. Maybe this does not count as devastatation to a large transnational like Shell, but to the people living with Shell it clearly does.
Shell further tries to exonorate itself by claiming that most of MOSOP's demands are "outside the business scope of oil operating companies and within the government's sphere of responsibility". Shell Nigeria strongly denies its complicity in the massacre of Ogonis, and claims that the authenticity of a Government House fact sheet linking Shell to military actions taken against the Ogoni "may be questioned". (No reasons for considering the document questionable are, however, given) The fact remains, however, that Shell Nigeria (ie. the SPDC), through its status as operator of the NNPC/Shell Nigeria joint venture, plays a highly significant role in the Nigerian economy. Its position is already such that it is a political player - as has been noted above, when Shell calls for aid in Ogoni, the military react, often with brutal force. And the basis of Ogoni demands is the environmental damage which results from Shell actions.

Shell further claims that the Nigerian legal system is the correct venue to resolve MOSOP's demands - yet it is precisely the Nigerian 'legal system' which has allowed Shell to continue its environmental devastation. The repressive political arena in Nigeria has directly benefited the economic arena within which Shell Nigeria operates.

The relationship between the economic and political aims of Shell internationally is seen in a comment made by John Drake of Shell South Africa, when asked to respond to the disparity between Shell South Africa's human rights ad campaign, and the actions of Shell in Nigeria: "The justification for Shell South Africa (Pty) Limited taking the position it did was that the legitimate business interests of our stakeholders in South Africa, including our employees, were prejudiced by the political system." In Nigeria, where Shell employees (eg. ex-director Ernest Shonekan) are favoured by the political system, political interests are clearly different.
Conclusion

Shell Nigeria's actions are indicative of the nature of transnational corporations. Their actions denote a hypocritical approach to the value of human life and the environment - actions routinely taken in Ogoni would be unthinkeable in the 'developed' countries of the North who buy most of Shell's oil. The devastation of Ogoni is also part of a familiar pattern - through the exploitation of oil, the Ogoni's chief livelyhood, their land, is being poisoned. Soon they will have not choice but become players in the economic system from which Shell derives its dominance. It is too late to save Ken Saro Wiwa now, but thousands of Ogoni are still under threat. It is crucial that action be taken to support Ogoni and the Nigerian people now!
'Be proud, be proud, Ogoni people be proud
We shall no longer allow the world to cheat us'

• Ogoni song