I’m here today with a message from We the People in the Niger Delta
On account of your fossil fuel pollution in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, the life expectancy there is currently only between 41 and 46 years. That’s younger than most of the people in this room today. How can you be comfortable profiting from limiting the lives of millions of people? The money that lines your pockets and allows you to comfortably grow old prevents that same dignity for people in the Niger Delta.
In the 70 years where you made stupendous profits for your shareholders, you transformed the Niger Delta into the most polluted place on earth, and its people, among the poorest and most poisoned. In that period, your company has been complicit in flaring gas non-stop at 178 flare points all over the Niger Delta, emitting millions of tonnes of CO2 yearly and poisoning over 40 million people with cancer and other respiratory illnesses. Several reputable studies have established that the methane, carbon dioxide and other chemicals from flared gas poison people with cancer, respiratory illnesses, birth defects, and diseases of the skin. When it rains, the poisonous chemicals in the atmosphere return to further pollute the soil and rivers, reducing farm fertility and killing fishes.
Several scientific reports, including those from the United Nations Environment Programme, have been published, all of them indicting you for massive pollution and poisoning. They have confirmed that your activities have led directly to major health risks and livelihood losses. This is not speculation; these are the facts.
But it feels important now to share a human story. Our friend’s only water source, a hand dug well, has produced nothing but crude oil for over three years. In one year alone, our friend unexpectedly lost his sister, his father, and his baby niece. Up until now, Shell has refused to accept that its ruptured pipe is the source of the pollution that has contaminated the drinking water of the entire community. Heartbreakingly, this is the reality for countless families as a result of your pollution.
● Who will fix the health of the millions of people you have poisoned?
For years, you have pushed back against the legal case from the Ogale and Bille communities against you for your decades and decades of pollution. The Ogale and Bille communities are one of hundreds of communities whose livelihoods have been devastated by Shell, and now they are suing Shell this year in UK courts for violation of their right to health and right to a clean environment. It’s convenient that this case coincides with you selling off your onshore oil assets to shadow consortiums that were conveniently only set up recently. Now that the case can be heard in UK courts, we know you are rushing to sell off your assets to avoid accountability. You are attempting to walk away from 7 decades of reckless oil extraction and its attendant ecological, health, and livelihood impacts. As you always have, you are attempting to avoid justice and reparations: we will not let you do that. Who will clean up nearly 70 years’ worth of oil spills and gas flaring? Who will fix the health of the indigenous people? Who will restore their livelihood?
You will not get away with the destruction of our communities. People all across the world are rising up with the Delta and against Shell. Your days of profiting from destroying our lives are numbered.
The people of the Niger Delta deserve to live in a clean and healthy environment. Help the Niger Delta get justice!
QUESTIONS:
● Who cleans up nearly 70 years’ worth of oil spills and gas flaring? Who
fixes the health of the indigenous people? Who restores their
likelihood?
● Do you believe it is morally just for you to simply sell off your assets
and walk away without any efforts to fix the mess you created in the
Niger Delta?
● Who will take responsibility for decommissioning your oil facilities?
Who takes responsibility for sealing the oil wells you are leaving
behind all over the Niger Delta? Who takes responsibility for removing
your rusty pipes from our rivers and farmlands?
● Who will fix the health of the millions of people you have poisoned?
