NO CLEAN UP, NO JUSTICE
The Niger Delta, Nigeria is one of the 10 most important wetland and coastal marine ecosystems in the world, and is home to some 31 million people. Sadly, the people living in the oil-producing areas of the Niger Delta have to drink, cook and wash with polluted water.
The land they farm is being poisoned, and the fish they eat are contaminated with oil and other toxins – if they are lucky enough to find fish at all. The oil industry is destroying the natural resources these people depend on for survival – the main culprit is a multi-billion dollar oil company based in the UK, Shell plc.
Oil from this region has generated billions of dollars since the 1960s, yet the majority of the Niger Delta's population live in poverty. Furthermore, pollution has damaged soil, water and air, contributing to human rights violations. In human rights law, a healthy environment is recognised as essential to realising the right to health. The environment in the Niger Delta has been widely polluted and communities have many serious health concerns. However, neither the Nigerian government nor the oil companies appear to have taken these health risks seriously enough to have prevented them and to remedy the harm done.
‘In 2008, life became very difficult in Bodo. All the fish died. We were paddling on top of oil. Our canoes and fishing nets were destroyed. It used to be much better. Now, poverty is everywhere.’ Fisherman from Bodo, May 2011
Unfortunately, there has been little improvement. The clean-up of oil spills in the Niger Delta is often slow and inadequate, leaving communities to cope with the ongoing impact of pollution on their livelihoods and health. Shell’s failure to address oil spills quickly and effectively and the Nigerian government’s lack of regulatory enforcement have seriously impacted the economic, social and cultural rights of hundreds of thousands of people in the Niger Delta.
This failure to protect people's human rights is breaking international law.
Nigeria is in breach of international law by failing to take the necessary steps to protect the human rights of its people. Corporations are responsible for their own actions, including failing to abide by international human rights and environmental standards and good practice for oil industry operations. Oil companies have been exploiting Nigeria’s weak regulatory system for too long. Shell, as the ‘oil operator’ in the overwhelming majority of Niger Delta oil fields, has legal responsibility for the clean-up, irrespective of the cause of the spill. It is clear that Shell has failed on countless occasions to fulfil this responsibility and as a result has failed the people of the Niger Delta.
Niger Delta communities have been dealing with hundreds of oil spills from Shell infrastructure, during the decades the British oil and gas company has been operating there.
Person stands next to unremediated oil spill at Kegbara-Dere (K-Dere) community in Rivers State, Niger Delta, Nigeria, 2015.
This year is a key year ✊
In February 2025, the first stage of the trial of Shell vs Ogale and Bille communities is taking place in the UK High Court after a decade of delay to the legal process. The preliminary trial in London is expected to last throughout 2025.
This is the first stage of the trial that will take place in London throughout 2025. More than 13,500 Ogale and Bille residents in the Niger Delta have filed claims against Shell over the past decade demanding the company clean up oil spills that they say have wrecked their livelihoods and caused widespread devastation to the local environment.
Separately, a judgement in 2024 rejected Shell’s attempt to stop the legal claim from the Bodo Community, ruling that the community is entitled to have evidence heard for a trial on the adequacy of Shell’s clean up in Bodo. These proceedings are scheduled to start in May 2025 too.
As Amnesty, we will stand with these communities in 2025 and beyond, asking for their voices to be heard by Shell and by Parlementarians who should be legislating to prevent UK companies from harming people and the environment. We must collectively support their calls for justice – NO CLEAN UP, NO JUSTICE!
Amnesty International has published numerous reports, documenting the detrimental impact Shell’s operations have had on Nigerian communities. Going forward, Amnesty International is calling for all affected communities to be allowed to engage in the legal process to obtain justice for their concerns to be addressed, and for the harm done to them to be remedied.
Furthermore, Shell must conduct meaningful consultations with affected communities about its plans for remediation, with details of all completed and ongoing clean-ups across its areas of operation.
Ogale and Bille V Shell ⚖️
More than 13,500 residents from the Ogale and Bille communities in the Niger Delta have filed claims against Shell asking that the company clean up oil spills which they say have wrecked their livelihoods, poisoned their wells, and polluted their land and water.
Shell announced in 2021 that it plans to sell its onshore oilfields and assets in the Niger Delta after 60 years of highly profitable operations in the area. It is concerning that Shell has not explained how it plans to address the widespread and systemic pollution of the land and water sources that Nigerian communities depend on, which are linked to its operations over several decades before the company sells up and leaves.
This case has now proceeded to trial to determine whether Shell’s parent company in London, as well as its Nigerian subsidiary the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), are legally responsible for the harm caused to the affected communities in Nigeria.
It is important to realise that if this level of contamination and pollution had occurred in Europe or North America, there would have been swifter and more severe consequences to those responsible. Shell has been taking advantage of these double standards.
Shell must clean up the pollution that its operations have given rise to, and which have caused so much harm to the health and livelihoods of communities in the Niger Delta.
Shell must take responsibility by cleaning up and paying up NOW.
Tainted Sale? 💰
Shell announced in January 2024 that it had agreed to sell the SPDC to the Renaissance consortium in a deal worth up to US$2.4 billion, financed partly with a loan to the buyers from Shell. In December 2024, Nigeria appoved the sale.
'With Shell obtaining approval for the sale of its business in the Niger Delta, it is essential that it is held fully to account for decades of grievous human rights abuses related to oil spills which have polluted the environment, contaminated drinking water and poisoned agricultural land, fisheries and people.' Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International Nigeria Director, May 2024
Learn more 👇
Lazarus Tamana (President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP) gives us insight on how Shell’s atrocities in the Niger Delta have impacted people’s lives.
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