Shell oil pollutes Nigerian water

This video is called The people of Nigeria versus Shell (English).

From This Day (Lagos, Nigeria):

Nigeria: Bonny Island Raises Alarm Over Oil Spill

15 August 2010

Lagos — Massive portions of the Opobo River in Opobo/Nkoro LGA of Rivers State heavily polluted by oil spillage is said to be steadily moving towards the Bonny sea to cause further pollution and damage to the sea in that area.

This is coming after a recent spill allegedly caused by multinational oil giant Shell was said to have crippled the source of livelihood for fishermen, polluted vast area of the sea and fish ponds and left the entire Bonny coast riddled with spilled crude last week.

In a determined effort to address the issue, Bonny Local Government Chairman, Hon. Edward Pepple has called on multinational oil giant, Shell, stakeholders and other relevant agencies to come to the aid of fishermen and the people of the island to save it from the impending catastrophe.

“There is looming danger; massive portion of the sea, ravaged by severe crude pollution is flowing towards Bonny waters through the Opobo axis and this could be a major blow to fishermen whose source of livelihood depend on the sea, including passengers who also ferry across the sea” he averred.

According to him the pollution allegedly caused by Shell earlier last week is still posing a serious challenge and to think of coping with another one looming from the Opobo area would be a one environmental catastrophe too many and may have dire consequences hence, the call for oil companies, government and relevant agencies to come to aid of the people of the Island.

Hon. Pepple who made this call while speaking to newsmen lamented the lack of urgency by Shell to address the August 8th spill. He said Shell is not showing enough effort as everyone had expected however, he assured that meetings are still on to ensure that Shell commence the mop up exercise while the issue of curtailing the Opobo pollution is fashioned out.

Shell is said to have erroneous[ly] pumped crude oil into one of her damaged pipelines alleged to have been perforated by angry youths protesting the non payment of their monthly amnesty allowance, consequently, sparking off a massive spillage that has caused one of the biggest pollution ever observed in the area.

Shell in a recent statement had acknowledged that the spillage was as a result of the oil they pumped into one of their pipelines but maintained they were unaware it has been sabotaged. They denied any knowledge of leakage before the release of crude to the affected pipeline, insisting that the said pipeline was sabotaged by suspected pipeline vandals.

Bonny people are not left out in the call to come to the aid of the Island as they state that virtually every activity of reaping resources from the sea has been stalled by the polluted water. Others are suspecting a sabotage against the Nigerian state, wherever they got that from is yet to be substantiated.

Shell Apologizes to Niger Delta? Here.

Guardian: Outrage at UN decision to exonerate Shell for oil pollution in Niger delta: here.

Campaigners have accused a top United Nations body of operating a “manipulative PR strategy” to absolve Royal Dutch Shell of responsibility for an ongoing environmental disaster in the Niger Delta: here.