After a five-year-long case, a Dutch Court has held the Nigerian Subsidiary of Shell responsible for the pollution of farmlands in Nigeria, marking a victory in the struggle against the oil company that has been at the centre of environmental concerns in Nigeria for over 40 years.
AWID interviewed Caroline Usikpedo, the National President of the Niger Delta Women’s movement for Peace and Development (NDWPD), for a women’s rights perspective on the ongoing struggle against the oil giant.
On 30 January this year, a Dutch Court ruled against a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, holding it responsible for the pollution of farmlands at Ikot Ada Udo, Akwa Ibom State in the coastal south of Nigeria. The Niger Delta is Africa’s largest Delta covering some 7000 square kilometres – a third of which is is made up of wetlands and it contains the largest mangrove forest in the world.
Petroleum exploration and production is Nigeria’s largest and most important industrial sector with oil accounting for almost 85% of current public revenue. This creates an awkward reality not just for nature, but for the 20 million people living in the Delta Region and particularly the minority and indigenous communities who, according to Caroline Usikpedo “have suffered maltreatment through political and economic marginalization, violence and environmental degradation.”
Usikpedo hopes “the work on environmental rights by UNEP and the international community, can avoid future tragedies such as the one which we are confronted with in the Niger Delta.” She wants her work to reflect the reality that “women in the Niger Delta are the most vulnerable – they bear the burden of the impact of climate change, poverty and human rights violations.” The NDWPD are calling on international communities to help raise awareness of the issues. “It is important that we gain as much support and empowerment as possible to help us in the campaign for peace and development in the Niger Delta, Nigeria.”
A small victory indeed, but a victory nonetheless.
