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THE Platform, a non-governmental organisation that monitors companies that operate in the oil and gas sector, seemed to have made a prophetic statement when it stated in 2011 that the Nigerian government and home states such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States are frequently unwilling to hold oil companies accountable.  It also stated that no internationally-binding framework on corporate human rights abuses currently exists. These statements have come to pass with last week’s US Supreme Court ruling dismissing the case Ogoni People filed against Shell.  The ruling has been roundly condemned in the human rights community because what the Supreme Court just did was to reverse gains already made over the years in the fight against human rights abuses by international oil companies. The ruling will also empower multinational companies not only Shell to now act with more impunity. This will even be worsened in a country like Nigeria where Shell and other oil corporations have exploited the country’s lax regulatory environment and perpetrated egregious wrongs in a legal vacuum.

Shell even old Realnews recently that the fines NOSDRA and Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency, NIMASA, levied against it because of its oil spillage in Bonga, which caused monumental environmental degradation, cannot be paid because it had no legal basis. Consequently, the fate of oil producing communities is hanging on a balance as it appears now that they are at the mercy of the international oil companies who have immense financial war chest to prosecute legal battles against any case pertaining to environmental degradation against them. More importantly, the unfortunate ruling will worsen the plight of the people of Ogoniland who have had to bear the brunt of oil exploration and exploitation in the country. Several efforts to check the nefarious activities of Shell in Ogoniland have not always yielded the expected result. Take the case of United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, for example. More than one year after the UNEP report, the federal government has not taken any decisive action to implement the recommendations. The result is that the Ogoni people are still suffering more today than ever before because of a weak government’s inability to protect its citizens from harm orchestrated by international oil companies. Against the US court ruling and its consequential effect on the activities of oil companies, the editorial board of Realnews decided to dedicate this week’s cover of the magazine to the plight of Ogoni people. The story entitled: Suffering in Ogoni land: Why Shell is Not Moved was written by Maureen Chigbo, Editor. It is a must read. Enjoy it.

Maureen Chigbo
Editor

08052528603  |  mechigbo@yahoo.com

— Apr. 29, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT