₦airaland Forum

This is a system that is wide open to abuse – and abuse happens. There is no one to challenge the oil companies and almost no way to independently verify what they say. In effect it’s ‘trust us – we’re big oil,” said Gaughran.

Shell has made some improvements to its investigation reports since 2011, including the addition of images of oil spills on its corporate website. But serious flaws remain, including weaknesses in the underlying evidence used to attribute spills to sabotage.

Information listed in oil spill investigation reports determines whether oil companies are liable to pay compensation to affected communities. Despite serious flaws, the reports are cited as evidence in litigation.

Amnesty International and CEHRD found evidence of Shell having changed the officially recorded cause of a spill after an investigation had taken place.

In one incident, secretly filmed video of an investigation shows how officials from Shell and the regulator tried to subvert the evidence by persuading community members on the investigation team not to attribute the cause to equipment failure.

Video footage of a leak from an oil spill in Bodo from 2008 reviewed by Accufacts shows that Shell seriously under-recorded the volume spilt. Shell’s official investigation report claims only 1,640 barrels of oil were spilt in total, but other evidence points to the amount being at least 60 times higher.

Hundreds of oil spills occur in Nigeria every year, causing significant harm to the environment, destroying livelihoods and placing human health at serious risk. These spills are caused by corrosion, poor maintenance of oil infrastructure and equipment failure as well as sabotage and theft of oil.

Shell has repeatedly claimed to its investors, customers and the media that sabotage and theft were behind the vast majority of spills. But the facts do not support this assertion.

“Instead of being in the dock when there is an oil spill in Nigeria, Shell gets to act as judge and jury. It is the communities that suffer a life sentence, with their land and livelihoods destroyed by the pollution,” said Gaughran.

“Shell and other oil companies refer to sabotage and theft in the Niger Delta as if it absolved them of responsibility. The Niger Delta is the only place in the world where companies brazenly admit to massive oil pollution from their operations and claim it is not their fault.”

New evidence shows that Shell's claims about its oil spills cannot be trusted.
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“Almost anywhere else, they would be challenged on why they have done so little to prevent it.”
Shell’s claims about how much oil is spilt due to sabotage and theft are increasingly being challenged. In June 2013, a Dutch agency found that the oil giant’s statements were based on disputed evidence and flawed investigations.

“As Shell’s claims on sabotage and theft come under scrutiny the company’s story is changing; we now hear more about illegal refining being the cause of oil pollution. Yet again, Shell is spinning a real problem into a PR shield for the company,” said Obodoekwe.

“Illegal refining causes pollution, but Shell cannot claim it is occurring in specific cases unless and until it produces reliable proof.”

The report argues that companies should be legally liable for failure to take effective action to protect their systems, including from sabotage.

Amnesty International and CEHRD are calling on the oil companies to publish all investigation reports, associated photos and videos. They must provide verifiable evidence of the cause and damage to the impacted area.

The Nigerian government must also substantially strengthen the capacity of the regulators including by providing an increased budget for its operations.

Source: http://blog.amnestyusa.org/africa/the-lies-shell-is-telling-about-oil-spills-in-the-niger-delta/

The Lies Shell is Telling About Oil Spills in the Niger Delta

BY SIMON BILLENNESS
November 7, 2013 at 11:17 AM
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In the powerful new report “Bad Information,” Amnesty International and the Center for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) reveal that Shell has manipulated investigations into its oil spills in Nigeria.

“Shell is being disingenuous about the devastation caused by its Niger Delta operations. This new evidence shows that Shell’s claims about the oil spills cannot be trusted,” said Audrey Gaughran, Director of Global Issues at Amnesty International.


New analysis from an independent expert found that so-called official investigation reports into the cause of oil spills in the Niger Delta can be “very subjective, misleading and downright false.”

The report highlights systemic weaknesses in the way the cause of a spill and the volume are determined – with some significant errors in the volumes that are recorded as spilt. The oil companies do not have to back up the claims with full and independent evidence. The evidence that does exist remains firmly under their control.

The consequences for the affected communities are devastating and can result in them receiving little or no compensation.



“Shell looks to blame others based on investigation reports that, in some cases, amount to nothing more than dodgy dossiers,” said Styvn Obodoekwe, Director of Programs at CEHRD.

At Amnesty International and CEHRD’s request, the independent U.S. oil pipeline specialist Accufacts assessed a number of oil spill investigation reports, as well as responses from oil companies operating in the Niger Delta and Nigeria’s national oil spill agency.

The expert found cases where the stated cause of an oil spill appears to be wrongly attributed to sabotage. In many other cases, sabotage was listed as the cause when there was little or no data recorded to back up the claim.

Overall, Accufacts concluded that many official investigation reports were “technically incomplete,” and others “appear to be serving another agenda, more driven by politics…than pipeline forensic science.”

Nigeria’s under-resourced regulatory agencies have little oversight or control of the process and are dependent on the oil companies to carry out investigations. In one incident, a regulator sent a student on work experience as their sole representative to an oil spill investigation.

The United State of America 254, the same country dat came out to blast Northern Nigerians for child abuse. The irony!!. Let it be know that any evil d United State accuse others be rest assured they top d chart for the same crime.

Really! N 6 days left, he has not even lied to the state on how he is planning to change it, as far as d state is still concerned the battle is on APC,ABGA and LP, so make em go bring Obama come it wil make little or no difference. PDP has lost anambra again and it seems it going to be for a very long time.

1acre: End time are really here. please prepare for the rapture .. its around the corner. ' no man will buy or sell without it '

Hahaahaha nice joke am guessing. Cos if not den SERIOUSLY!!!

Well since baba God no go come down come vote or count d vote, am guessing rigging is d only problem. U better plan well cos u'll need every strategy u got.

kinharold: Please, let me ask; I pray I get a good answer cos I really don't understand it myself.

Accidental deaths are highly regrettable but sometimes i wonder why there is so much fuss about plane crash and deaths?, NASS will probe it, the presidency will be involved, Airline is banded, sometimes minister and some other high level office holders loose their job. Government gives out huge bailout funds for the aviation industry.

On the other hand, deaths in road accidents in a year is in Thousands. The above figure of 2,422 is just for 6 months not the whole year yet. That means we have about 400 deaths every month on road accidents and nothing much is being done about it. In about the same week of the Associated Airline crash that killed about 13 persons, the boat accidents on the River Niger killed scores of persons including 29 women but nothing was head about it after that day.

Hope it is not because air passengers/victims are most-likely of the rich class.

Bro welcome to the league of great thinkers. Its because road, water and other accident has nothing to do with politics, tribe or any other means of scoring public notice. They say d problems are due to bad roads but in abuja where most of the roads are good dats were most of d accidents occur, if u drive by kubwa/airport express u c more accidents dere dan any other motor way dat is bad. Overspeeding, lack of road signs, impatience, lack of vehicle maintenance and many more are d leading problem to road accident, having a good road n a bad driving system won't stop tankers from failing brakes, it won't stop drivers from overtaking in a sharp bend, it won't stop Okada from entering a major road without looking and it won't stop a pedestrian from NOT using a overhead bridge.

After reading d article carefully I must ask 3 questions, who brought the camera? If the governors did, den what were dey expecting? Was it staged in other to make it look like a Nigerian problem rather than what it actually is, (a party problem)?, cos dis days na Stella dey head d news.

WTF! really! Can't believe saharareporter will go dis low. I now understand.

13hours wow! And its took dem only 4 months to do dis.

gurnam: The church seems just to lack the organisational logistics to handle such crowd...

I do agree wif u on dis, d church didn't take precautions to control d crowd especially during opening and closing hours. If it was controlled the bikes won't be there also d woman frying stuff. Imagine if it was a really fire, with dat much uncontrolled crowd d stampede wuld have claimed even more life just like d ikeja boom blast

What the military guy did was horrible but dats d only way to make some Nigerians listen, they built d flyover bridge for a reason, getting knocked down by a truck wuld have bin more painful dan d punishment. U need to come c d constant accidents dat happen cos people refuse to use overhead bridges.

Where is d prove dat 7billion was spent? Sahara don come again with dere major BS.

I also believe the church should be blamed as well, with such massive crowed the would have spent money on ensuring a crown control management team, dats y in concerts u get people dat ensure safety. Everyone keeps blaming everyone, technically No ones to blame but d church, if they carried out d necessary safety procedure. What if there was actually a fire or gun shots or ABGA/APC thugs.

But dis is confusing please could some1 help me out, I tot it was d minister of finance dat said she only signed waiver for the purchase of 300 cars for the lagos State government which the CEO of coscharis was giving d contract but the coscharis guy used the same waiver to bring in d 2 BMW which come out to #10million (+-) which involved d DG, I didn't fink Odoah said anything about the lagos state government buy BMW, she didn't even mention dem, d Finance minister did. So abeg if am wrong correct me.

Y do d media keep making dese pus*sies relevant, dis is not a Nigerian problem, and should by no excuse disturb the activities of d governors to dere states. Dis is a PDP problem, and we keep allowing low lives Mofos to disrupt peace if dis men don tier for GEJ make dem join APC, ABGA or LP or any of d little parties. All of u here supporting them please could 1 person say that dese men have changed ur live n dat of ur families in a positive way. 4get about Nigeria. Has Ameachi made ur lives better dat will make me want to support him even if every1 else don't. Ask urselves. Quit making dem relevant.

Now we know why some government policies are always made to favour the United State, I bet they know Nigeria better than Nigerians.

9Willywilly: The source is WWW.Olufemanu.Com

No wonder! Imagine during d faruk/pension thief saga, with all the prove EFCC/ICPC had (video, audio and verbal) dey still made no arrest, and d facts were there. Ryt in front of Nigerians they let d pension police dude walk, Faruk has bin living large ever since, Now u want GEJ to give u d go ahead to arrest some1 who is still being *aleglly accused". With very little or no fact of her involvement, cos Saharareport/punch brought some document dat only proves dat 255million was spent. By whom, is y d committee has bin set up. I don't really know why dis people wont just allow dis committee handle dis without trying to spill constant BS on media.

shymexx: What kind of thread is this?

Isn't Nigeria a republic and an independent country?

So you expect them to comment on an internal issue, nah?

And this trash is on the web, with a link. smfdh.

Fvcking hell, a lot of Nigerians are still stuck in the stone-age.

Can someone please throw this silly thread in the butt-crack of nl!!

God will bless u, no mind dis primitive bunch, if no be US or UK talk am Nigerian no go do am. The way we worship dis countries is just embarrassing and degrading. Funny we are more richer, blessed both human and Natural resource and yet we can't do anything with out US and UK consent. While we are here looking for US and UK blessings Ghana and other countries are doin great tins dere own way. Yet dey import us to dere country n use us as 21st century slaves, and yet we still worship dem.

infonubia: What vital information do we have to protect anyways?

Information brraa is everything no matter how small. By listening in dey can control our economy, the United State is d devil dey have to stay on top of every other country in other to control it.

Dats our problem, Nigerians are very good @ talking about what dey want rather than fight for it. we wait for some1 else to do d dirty job while we sit to place judgement. We all know Nigeria needs to break up we've known dat for 5 decades n within dat tym only 1 men had the courage to fight for that separation. Now every1 just come on media complain n complain n complain n complain. The people in power aint planning for a separation in d nearest future dat is y countries are investing in Nigeria cos Nigerians are going No where.

Wow! OBJ's really a comedian. "Read my Book" I hope in d book he say the truth about how he n his 40 thieves robbed it citizens. Its time dese our leaders learn from IBB and OBJ. No matter how much u steal, how much u destroy dis country, u will be here(Nigeria) to suffer what u created. No were to run

1MCN: Common sense will tell us that no matter how much a minister is performing, as soon as s/he veers into the thick bush of electioneering in Nigeria, his/her ministry must suffer. There's just no way the person can still perform as ab initio. That's a truism.

Fact dude, dese ministers/ministries are the back bone to Nigerian corruption, and in other for d ministers to keep seeing the loot dey have to plan for after office or dey end up like OBJ and IBB. Who ever tot dat dem two criminals will come out 1 day to become activist. Imagine the former education minister I bet she wishes she looted more money. Dats y most ministries suffer cos its minister has to do everything in s/he power to favour d political party rather than d ministry.

Don't u fink dat those ministers are rather concerned about there aspiration than doin d job, and the moneys meant for ministries will go for campaign. N u as*ses wonder y after the ministry of finance pay still most ministry worker get paid late. What do u fink dese ministers do with d money? For election purposes.

holyvirgin: Sarcasm

Oh yes, privatisation of power sector is the best thing that has happened so far and we pray that the corrupt people in government will not in anyway tamper with its progress.
Mr Bath should have stayed and fight the cabal just like his sisters are doing on a daily basis. The likes of Oduah, Okonjo etc are very strong women who knows that resigning is not the best option.
Nigeria belongs to us, and we must all come together and fight for our rights, fighting corruption is a fight we all must support.
Nice speech mr Bath

Well put, its because of strong women like dem, dats why Nigeria is lookin a bit better, years back our parents gave up on us dats y Nigerian youth are d way dey are nw, we need to fight these so called cabel, dey only human, even if dey use evil diabolical means, with a good heart God will never let dem harm u #fact.

Yes cos politics is no more what's its uses to be. U have to be careful what u say, but I guess dats what makes GEJ smarter, dey say an empty barrel sounds d loudest. That's why wen uz opposition open ur mouth u keep spilling BS without facts. If he come out new b4 hearing bothsides of d story what u call dat? Dis is not beer parlour gist Jobs and dignity are @ stake.

waternogetenemy: This story never reach front page? That APC must be yoruba.

Hahahahah Nigerians and tribalism. Hw is dat Photo shopped, who ever did it is very good cos I can't see any sign dat shows it is photoshopped. Please can some1 show us d signs.

Tic tuk! tic tuk! Oil and Gas is about to loose it market value. Now we go know who be who in Nigeria.

Since d people trying to mess dis woman up don't understand, "Do the Needfull" means she has approved it but u will need to contact n get the necessary signatures and approval b4 carrying out the order. That word alone as vindicated her. Some1 didn't "do the Needfull" that's what's @ stake nw.

I hope dis news is true, cos ASUU don fu*ck up, 5 month of strike n counting, just cos dem no c money to chop. Am sure some student/persons will condemn "PLAN B". Please GEJ some1 needs to mess ASUU up, for years dey have prevented student from quality education, d same student dey claim dey fighting for have suffered in d hand of d same ASUU members. We need dem scraped.