The Niger Delta
There is an active campaign by civil society to get Shell and the other oil companies to clean up decades of pollution and pay adequate compensation to the blighted communities of the Niger Delta.
The people of the Niger Delta deserve to live in a clean and healthy environment and be adequately compensated for decades of pollution.
Take action and help the Niger Delta get justice!
Background
The Niger Delta, which remains a case study of the destructive power of the oil industry, is now arguably the most-polluted oil-producing region in the world. This multigenerational fight serves as a constant reminder of how fossil fuels have failed and destroyed Africa, and the community resistance we must support to avoid repeating this history in the other African deltas.
Oil has been produced in the Delta since Shell first discovered it in the late fifties. Shell’s operations in the delta have been dogged by accusations of rampant pollution, environmental racism, double standards, collusion with the military, and potential complicity in the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian writer, and his eight other colleagues from Ogoniland. The Ogoni 9, as they were called, were campaigning against Shell and for the survival of the Ogoni people at the time of their murder by the Nigerian military.
For the last thirty years, there has been a campaign to hold Shell accountable. Back in 2009, Shell agreed to settle “Wiwa Versus Shell,” paying a total of $15.5 million to the plaintiffs, who sued over the oil giant’s complicity in the murders. In 2002, one widow of the Ogoni 9, Esther Kiobel, sued Shell in the United States, although this case failed.
In 2017, Esther Kiobel and three other widows, Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo, and Charity Levula, brought a new legal case against Shell in the Netherlands. In 2022, the court eventually sided with Shell.
In January 2023, Shell paid 15 million euros to communities in Nigeria affected by multiple oil leaks. In 2014, Shell settled a case for GBP55 million against 15,600 claimants from Bodo after a massive oil spill there. In November last year, the high court in London ruled that 13,000 farmers, fishermen, and women could bring human rights claims against Shell, including over chronic oil pollution of their water sources and destruction of their way of life.
However, in a move designed to avoid paying compensation and clean up costs, many international oil companies, including Shell, are selling their assets in the Niger Delta and moving their production offshore. Shell announced the sale of its stake in its onshore operations in January 2024.
In September 2024, 175 civil society organizations wrote to the Nigerian authorities demanding that they “resist reported pressure from oil multinational Shell to overturn a decision by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to refuse permission for Shell to divest its onshore oil fields to Renaissance African Energy, a British Virgin Islands-registered Special Purpose Vehicle controlled by unknown individuals.”
In October 2024, the Nigerian Government reportedly denied Shell’s request to sell its onshore assets, although Shell was reportedly lobbying hard to overturn the decision. This cannot be allowed to happen.
Current threats and issueS
- Pollution The Niger Delta is one of the most polluted areas on earth. One recent investigation estimated that the Niger Delta has suffered the equivalent of an oil spill, on the scale of the Exxon Valdez disaster, every single year for 50 years.
- Public Health Millions of people in the Niger Delta have been forced to live on contaminated land and drink contaminated water while breathing polluted air from gas flaring.
- IOCs selling up For the last decade, international oil companies have sold their onshore assets without cleaning up their pollution or paying compensation. And now it is Shell’s turn. In January 2024, Shell said it was selling its stake in Shell Petroleum Development Company to Renaissance. The sale must be blocked until Shell pays compensation and cleans up its pollution.
- Accountability and justice The Niger Delta will be a test case for holding international companies to account for their destruction and human rights violations in Africa. They must be held accountable.
Explore the data
The map below shows how directly impacted the Niger Delta is from oil operations. The grey boxes depict areas with oil wells, and you can see that the Delta is literally covered with them. Using the layer options on the left side you can also show and hide various datasets with other oil infrastructure, including refineries and oil and gas processing plants.
This map is provided by Fossil Fuel Atlas. You can explore the map on their site here.