Amnesty International and its partners on Wednesday demanded that Shell Plc answer for pollution in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region.
“Shell must answer for decades of pollution in the Niger Delta after internal company documents revealed broken rules, failing infrastructure and unresolved clean-up costs that risk leaving affected communities to pay the price,” read a statement announcing on Wednesday the release of a new report on the environmental impacts and human rights implications of Shell operations in the Niger Delta.
Titled ‘Nigeria: Lifting the Lid,’ the report was jointly released by a coalition of eight human rights and environmental organisations. They are Amnesty International, The Corner House, Hawkmoth, HEDA Resource Centre, Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, Miideekor Environmental Development Initiative (MEDI), ReCommon, and Social Action.
The report analysed confidential Shell emails, technical audits, presentations and internal reviews disclosed during ongoing legal proceedings in the UK.
It alleged that Shell knew of serious integrity failures in its pipelines and oil wells, exempted its Nigerian subsidiary from some internal safety standards, and delayed decommissioning ageing facilities despite acknowledging the environmental risks.
