In the more than a quarter century since Shell Plc left Ogoniland in southern Nigeria, oil has continued to ooze from dormant wellheads and active pipelines, leaving the 386-square mile kingdom’s wetlands shimmering with a greasy rainbow sheen, its once-lush mangroves coated in crude, well-water smelling of benzene and farmlands charred and barren.
The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) is working on a plan to connect Ogoniland to the Nigerian power grid, in an extension of its original focus on remediating polluted lands.
Rivers State Nyesom Wike has accused the federal government of driving the Ogoni clean up programme forward only when it is politically expedient.
Activists have mounted demonstrations at Shell’s headquarters in London and The Hague, in protest over the killings of the Ogoni 9 in Nigeria, 25 years ago.
Shell is heading to the UK Supreme Court today for another hearing on oil leaks in the Niger Delta.
Spills in Nigeria for Shell increased to 2,000 tonnes in 2019, from 157 sabotage incidents, the company has disclosed in its annual report. This was up from 1,600 tonnes from 111 incidents in 2018.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has said the country will soon pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), various versions of which have been in the offing for more than 10 years.
The Rivers State government claims to have bought Shell Petroleum Development Co.’s (SPDC) 45% stake in OML 11, part of the Ogoniland, in execution of a legal ruling.