Nigeria and Shell
Dem leave sorrow, tears, and blood
Dem regular trademark
Life in the 21st Century is a reader-supported publication. Please become a paid subscriber.
The FT reports Shell is pulling out of Nigeria, or at least the Delta - Shell agrees to exit Nigerian business for $1.3bn after more than 60 years. Phew, even pilfering out more money!
Let’s just say from beginning to end the Shell/Nigeria relationship was not a model of what’s shilled in Davos as corporate responsibility. FT subhead is best, “Departure follows other international groups because of difficulties operating in region hit by corruption and violence.” Among others, the causes of plenty of Nigerian corruption and violence can be laid directly at the feet of Shell.
First and foremost, the oil Shell pulled out of the ground funded three decades of brutal rule by military juntas. Secondly, Shell’s environmental record in the Delta is simply atrocious. In 1995, the two met in the brutal execution of democrat and environmentalist Ken Saro Wiwa, who fought against both the military junta and the ecological destruction of his Ogoni homeland. In 2009, The Guardian writes,
The oil giant Shell has agreed to pay $15.5m in settlement of a legal action in which it was accused of having collaborated in the execution of the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other leaders of the Ogoni tribe of southern Nigeria.
The settlement, reached on the eve of the trial in a federal court in New York, was one of the largest payouts agreed by a multinational corporation charged with human rights violations.
The article includes Shell’s punchline,
The company said it was making the payment in recognition of the tragic turn of events in Ogoni land. "While we were prepared to go to court to clear our name, we believe the right way forward is to focus on the future for Ogoni people," Malcolm Brinded, a Shell director, said.
Over 13,000 residents from two Nigerian communities are seeking damages from Shell in the High Court in London, calling for the energy giant to clean up residual oil and compensate devastating environmental damage.
The claim from 11,317 people and 17 institutions in the Niger Delta area of Ogale, a rural community of around 40,000 situated in Ogoniland, was filed last week.
The past is future as they say. Most Nigerian oil ever exported went to the US, so yes, if you’ve driven a car in the US the last half-century, it’s burned Nigerian crude. It’s a pretty small group of Americans who could point to Nigeria on a map. One of those “shithole” countries in the words of the once and seemingly likely future US president. Though it is funny how many Nigerian names are popping up in US college and professional football and basketball these days. Oil has been a curse for Nigeria, for oil’s impact on America, the final judgement might yet to be determined, but the case increasingly appears damning.
