THE HUMAN RIGHTS IMPLICATION OF THE DESPOILED OGONI LANDS BY THE OIL FIRMS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

In 1957 Shell Petroleum Development Company(Nigeria) Ltd. (SPDC) discovered oil in Ogonilandand subsequently began actual exploitation ofcrude oil in the area. The company dug massive oilwells all around the area and laid pipelines thatintersect and crisscrossed indigenous communities.Environmental contamination and degradation as aresult of oil exploration and extraction becamequickly apparent as huge oil spills occurred. Deeplayers of oil from leaking wells and pipelinescovered fertile farmlands and water leavingindigenous people of various communities in thearea without any means of livelihood since theirmain occupation is farming and fishing.Multinational Oil Companies that operates in thearea take little or no responsibility for oil spills andair pollution from their activities. In 2009 owing toseveral protest by the indigenous people of Ogoni,the Federal Government of Nigeria Commissionedthe United Nations Environmental programme(UNEP) to conduct an independent study todetermine the environmental and public healthimpacts of oil contamination in Ogoniland, andoptions for remediation. UNEP submitted its reportto the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2011.Seven years after the report was submitted to theFederal Government of Nigeria with far reachingrecommendations including a comprehensiveremediation of the despoiled land, no meaningfulaction has been taken by the Government toremediate the land. This paper examines theactivities of Multinational Oil Companies inOgoniland, its impact on the environment and thenon-remediation of the despoiled land. The paperalso examines the human rights implication of the activities of this multinational oil companies and argues that their activities violate the rights of the indigenous people of Ogoni in several dimensions. The paper recommends a comprehensive remediation of the despoiled land and a declaration making wetlands in Ogoniland a Ramsar Site.