Group Wants New Shell CEO To Clean Up Oil Spill In Niger Delta
SAN FRANCISCO, March 14, (THEWILL) - Famous London organisation, Platform, has started pushing a new campaign to prod the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Shell Plc, Ben van Beurden, to clean up crude oil pollution in the Niger Delta.
Oil and human rights campaigner, Sarah Shoraka, in an email said right now, the new CEO of Shell is working on a "new strategy" for the oil giant.
"Let's tell him that it must include a plan to clean up its mess in the Niger Delta," she said in an email .
While giving a graphic description of the Niger Delta, Shoraka lamented the current situation in the region since Shell exploration and exploitation activities started in the region.
"Last November, I visited the Niger Delta - one of the most polluted places on earth.
I saw a land laid to waste by an oil industry that does not respect people or the environment.
"It wasn't always that way.
Before Shell first discovered oil in Nigeria in 1956, it was a globally important wetland habitat with rich biodiversity, providing livelihoods for people for centuries.
" Beside putting up a petition for people to sign, pressuring the new Shell's CEO to act, Platform has created a a sample tweet .
The statement read in part: "Shell has been polluting the Niger Delta for over 50 years, but we now have an opportunity to steer it in a different direction.
"Shell got a new CEO, Ben van Beurden, last month.
This represents an important opportunity for Shell to take a new path and clean up its legacy of pollution.
"It's time for a return to clean water, justice and peace in the Niger Delta.
"It's a good time for Shell to act.
Just twelve working days after taking up his post as new CEO of Shell, Ben van Beurden issued a surprise profit warning.
"Security problems in Nigeria were cited as partly to blame.
If Beurden really wants to turn things around, then Shell needs to re-think its strategy on Nigeria.
It's time for a return to clean water, peace and justice .
"Dissent against Shell's presence in the Niger Delta has a long history.
In 1995, the Ogoni 9 -- including the inspirational activist and writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa -- were executed by the military government in Nigeria for campaigning against Shell's destruction of their homeland" "Shell was forced to stop oil extraction in Ogoni in 1993, when Ken Saro-Wiwa mobilised 300,000 people to demand environmental and social justice.
Shell's response was to assist the Nigerian military in razing 27 villages, killing over 2000 people.
"Now, as we approach the 20th anniversary of the executions, the Ogoni people are rising up again, planning a series of peaceful direct actions at the oil industry.
Last December, for instance, there were mass protests culminating in the blockade of an oil refinery in Port Harcourt.
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