Imagine an African country that accounts for more that 40% of a multinational oil corporation’s profits, but has unending lines at the gas pump.
Imagine a multinational (SHELL) so nestled in the relationship with the leaders of that country, that they can send a brutal force to massacre an upstart village refusing to cede oil-rich land*. That’s Nigeria for you!
If you have not had the chance to watch a screening of “The Age of Stupid”, go and see the film. Among others, you will see the story of Layefa Malemi, a Niger Delta girl with aspirations of becoming a good doctor and live an American-style life, but must first catch fish and sell illicit diesel to get her fees.
The little fish she is able to catch is so polluted with oil, that she scrubs it with OMO before selling or cooking it!
*”Days later, Shell met the director general of the state security services to “reiterate our request for support from the army and police”. In a confidential note Shell suggested: “We will have to encourage follow-through into real action preferably on an industry rather than just Shell basis”. The Nigerian regime responded by sending in the Internal Security Task Force, a military unit led by Colonel Paul Okuntimo, a brutal soldier, widely condemned by human rights groups, whose men allegedly raped pregnant women and girls and who tortured at will. Okuntimo boasted of knowing more than 200 ways to kill a person.”
Source: Secret papers ‘show how Shell targeted Nigeria oil protests’
SHELL has an efficient PR machinery to counter the negative effects of her 50 years in Nigeria, but needs to do much more than give token compensation to plaintiffs representing the inhabitants of lands from which SHELL gets her profits (Ken Saro Wiwa, the Ogoni people, USD 15 million fund). The oil spills must be cleaned up, regardless of how they came about, so that the people do not have to eat fish scrubbed with commercial detergents.
More importantly, the continued flaring of gas that accompanies oil drilling needs to be stopped. It has been connected to rising cases of skin diseases, respiratory illnesses and cancer.
Ironically, if SHELL were to refine and bottle the gas that is wasted in this way and offer it to the Nigerian people, the PR, legal wrangles and financial settlements would become unnecessary!
