We promised we would not be bystanders in the face of climate injustice, and so on the morning of 24th July a group of people from CCA London stood with representatives of the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta outside the Royal Courts of Justice in witness against Shell, who are seeking to strike out the Bodo community’s legal claim for a proper clean-up of almost 9,000 hectares of land belonging to the community. In 2014, Nigeria’s Bodo community won a landmark case against Shell in the UK High Court relating to two catastrophic 2008 oil spills of almost half a million barrels, but Shell’s clean-up is incomplete, their environment remains deeply polluted, and ongoing oil spills compound their suffering.

Lazarus Tamana of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People described the harm that continues to be inflicted on the people of the Niger Delta as wickedness. It was impossible not to be moved as he described the devastation of his people as a result of the environmental contamination of oil extraction. You can read more of his words in an interview he gave in 2019 here. 

Dr Diana Warner spoke to the heart of why we were there “The peoples of Ogoniland are treated as if their lives are not worth grieving, as if they do not exist. Largely their struggle is unseen, unheard. Their lives, deaths, and the diseases they suffer from, are largely undocumented. This means that it is extremely difficult for them to seek reparations. That they are still struggling, that they have come to the UK to seek a minimum of justice, is testament to the courage, strength and ingenuity of the people who have come to court today. They are rightly calling Shell out to account for its actions. Shell must make reparations.”

She outlined the health impacts of the contamination and the conclusions of the United Nations Environmental Report of 2011 on the state of Ogoniland, which confirmed contamination of all sources of water including collected rainwater, and especially high levels of contamination by petroleum and petroleum products in water from wells and boreholes. “This means that the deep groundwater is contaminated from oil spills. There is no other source of drinking water available. Adverse health effects of ingested oil products, are known to include infertility, miscarriages, infant death, cancers. The documented rate of babies’ deaths before the age of one month is one and half times that which would have been expected. Severe nausea and vomiting and other symptoms, including death, are more immediate effects at very high levels of contamination.  There are additional respiratory and cardiovascular effects when oil products are inhaled. This includes asthma, heart disease, strokes.” 

Shell continues to extract oil in Nigeria and their pipelines cross the country. The recent spill at the end of June 2023 shows how little progress has been made to protect the indigenous people of the Niger Delta. As Dr Warner said Shell oil production has severely impacted the health and lives of the people living in Ogoniland at every level. Both mental and physical health are severely impacted. These effects are still largely unrecognised, undocumented because of the lack of medical provision. But we know that in their lands, contaminated by oil, vegetation dies, especially the mangrove trees; fish are killed or migrate to other areas; farming becomes impossible. Unable to feed their families in the traditional way the people suffer from loss of livelihood, loss of traditional way of life, hunger and malnutrition. The youth are forced to earn a living as they can, some through illegal methods such as from artisanal oil production. It is truly wicked.

But as we cheered their lawyers entering the building behind us, Lazarus ended on a note of hope. There is hope, he said, in our standing together against companies like Shell; in our coming together to seek justice. 

The fight against Shell and other fossil fuel companies is not just for justice for the Ogoni people, it’s for justice everywhere. Lazarus has a message for the world “We need to work together to raise awareness and combat this crisis; it’s Ogoniland today, but it could be your home tomorrow.”

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17

UPDATE

Our friend Nbani Friday Barilule, the Executive Director of the Lekeh Development Foundation, in Nigeria and fellow environmental activist has sent us a message about this issue:

“I am very happy to be connected with you all who are living in my heart. your solidarity support for my people of Ogoni communities is highly appreciated therefore, i stand in spirit and solidarity with you all to demand for our fundamental rights, environmental justice and restoration of the Ogoni environment because the current situation of the region calls for urgent environmental attention to act fast. Ogoni people living in climate disaster, ecological war, polluted water, air and soil on a daily basic. we must act fast to ensure SHELL pay for loss and damage, reparations, climate debt, compensation, proper remediation, restoration and to clean up their mess in Ogoni and Niger Delta region. Today, we need education, we need employment, we need to survive, we want to eat and we want to live and stay healthy. We do not want our children to remain out of school, we do not want to lack money because shell has removed land which used to be our main source of revenue. In short, we do not want to live in a vicious circle in which we shall see the SHELL as the author of our misfortune and our oppressor. So bad to know that Ogoni people who live on top of wealth cannot afford one dollar for food per day.
I unite with all of you to take action today because we don’t have time. EVERYONE IS DEAD IN OGONI because everyone is at risk and affected by polluted air, water and land yet the polluters resident is situated in Lagos and Abuja which is far away from the direct oil impacted communities.
Thanks once again for the action and hope to be with you all soon.”

You can connect with Friday – @safetymbani @foundationlekeh http://www.facebook.com/NbaniFriday. http://www.lekeh.org