Ogoni: Oil Firms must Compensate the People of Nigeria
UNPO and a global coalition are calling on oil companies in Nigeria to begin repaying their ecological debt.
Below is an article published by the Guardian:
Grilled in Congress, shares down to £3 and forced to pledge billions of dollars in compensation, BP is paying the price for the damage it has caused in the Gulf of Mexico – and rightly so. Yet in Nigeria, as you report ("Anger grows across the world at the real price of 'frontier oil'", Business), oil companies such as Shell, Chevron and ExxonMobil have been largely responsible for decades of oil spills that destroy livelihoods and violate human rights.
Villagers in Nigeria have nowhere to turn for adequate remedies. A global coalition of leading human, environmental and children's rights groups, prominent individuals and experts is calling on oil companies in Nigeria to begin repaying their ecological debt by investing in an independent compensation body responsible for dealing with the impact of oil spills.
President Goodluck Jonathan must lead this process and toughen Nigeria's regulatory framework to protect the people of the Niger Delta.
Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development, Nigeria; Stepping Stones Nigeria; Stakeholder Democracy Network UK/Nigeria; Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation, Netherlands; Prof Scott Pegg, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, US PLATFORM / remember saro-wiwa, UK
Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR), UK
Justice in Nigeria Now (JINN), USA
Stepping Stones Nigeria Child Empowerment Foundation (SSNCEF), Nigeria
Bayelsa Union of Great Britain and Ireland
Nigeria Liberty Forum, UK
Ijaw People's Association of Great Britain and Ireland (IPA)
Centre for Defence of Human Rights and Vocational training in Africa
(CDHRVTA), Nigeria
Sokari Ekine – blacklooks.org, USA/UK
Social Action, Nigeria
EarthRights International, USA
Centre for Social & Corporate Responsibility (CSCR), Nigeria
Gender And Development Action, Nigeria
Bayelsa Non-Governmental Organisations Forum, Nigeria
Socio-Economic Rights & Accountability Project (SERAP), Nigeria
Guy Hibbert, Screenwriter, UK
Professor Rick Steiner, USA
Communities for a Better Environment, USA
Michael Watts, University of Berkeley California, USA
Patrick Bond, senior professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
Centre for Civil Society Environmental Justice project, South Africa
Niger Delta Professionals For Development, Nigeria
Gordon Roddick, UK
Niger Delta Development Initiative, UK/Nigeria
Women of Africa, UK
Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), Nigeria
International Institute for Environment and Development, (IIED), UK
IKV Pax Christi, Netherlands
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Nigeria
Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, UK
Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, Nigeria
Priority Africa Network, USA
Alona Clifton, Community Advocate, USA
Global Fund for Women, USA
Frances M Beal, activist, USA
Jeremy A. Pearce, Financial Advisor, Socially Responsible Investments, USA
Pro-Natura International (Nigeria)
Scottish Education and Action for Development, (SEAD), Scotland
