Shell is under renewed pressure from activists demanding a full clean-up of pollution in the Niger Delta, as the oil giant holds its annual general meeting today.
Campaigners from Amnesty International UK, Fossil Free London, and the Justice 4 Nigeria coalition are staging a demonstration outside Shell’s global headquarters in London. The protest comes just hours before the company’s AGM begins at a hotel near Heathrow, where public protests have been restricted under a court injunction. The meeting is scheduled for 10 am.
Activists accuse Shell of decades of environmental destruction in the Niger Delta, where oil spills from poorly maintained infrastructure have contaminated water supplies, decimated crops and fisheries, and caused widespread health problems for local communities. Despite years of pressure and multiple legal rulings, they say the company’s clean-up efforts have been inadequate.
“For nearly 70 years, Shell’s operations have devastated the health and livelihoods of millions in the Niger Delta,” said campaigners. “Spills and leaks have destroyed mangroves, killed fish, polluted drinking water, and caused respiratory illnesses, miscarriages, and infant deaths.”
Citing research, they noted that babies born to women living near oil spill sites are twice as likely to die in their first month compared to other areas of Nigeria.
Shell has earned vast sums from its operations in the region. In Ogoniland alone, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People estimates Shell made $30 billion over three decades, while leaving environmental devastation in its wake.
Peter Frankental, Amnesty International UK’s director of business and human rights, said: “Despite court rulings ordering Shell to clean up and compensate affected communities, the company continues to stall. Shell has made enormous profits at the cost of human suffering and environmental destruction. It must be held accountable.”
He added: “For decades, communities have called for justice and the right to live in a healthy environment. Shell has created a living hell in the Niger Delta—now it must clean up and pay up.”
A spokesperson for Shell said: “These are important issues and we respect the right of people to express their view. But for many years the vast majority of spills in the Niger Delta have been caused by third parties acting unlawfully, such as oil thieves who drill holes in pipelines, or saboteurs.
Speaking exclusively to Share Talk a spokesperson for Shell said “These challenges are managed by a joint venture which Shell’s former Nigerian subsidiary, SPDC, operated, cleaning up every spill from the joint venture’s facilities.
“Shell sold SPDC to a capable buyer with operating experience in the Niger Delta, approved by the government, and kept all of SPDC’s expertise intact, including environmental capabilities.
“Now under new ownership and called Renaissance Africa Energy Company, the company still operates as part of the joint venture and remains accountable for cleaning up spills from the joint venture’s facilities.”
[embedpress] https://x.com/Dom_Twomey/status/1924736214864670958[/embedpress]Amnesty’s Dominic Twomey also echoed the group’s stance in a statement on X.
