Oil Companies and Nigeria Accused of Mass Pollution in Niger Delta

Amnesty International says Royal Dutch Shell, other oil companies, and the Nigerian government have violated the human rights of residents of the Niger Delta by polluting their land and harming their health with oil spills, natural gas flaring, and waste dumping. In a 141-page report, the human rights group said that at least 9 million barrels of oil may have been spilled in the past 50 years in the delta, home to an estimated 500,000 Ogoni people. “People living in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with and wash in polluted water,” said the report. “They eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins. The land they farm on is being destroyed… yet neither the government nor oil companies monitor the human impacts of oil pollution.” A Shell spokesman said that, despite its efforts to protect the environment, 85 percent of the pollution from its operations comes from attacks and sabotage carried out by criminal bands operating in the Niger Delta.