ABSTRACT

The Niger Delta has attracted the attention of environmentalists, human rights activists, and fair trade advocates around the world (Shah 2004). Reports of environmental and human rights abuses by multinational oil companies operating in the Delta are common (Admin Report 2010). Studies have revealed that oil in Niger Delta has brought with it degradation, militancy, insecurity, and ultimately human rights violations. The Amnesty International Report (2009) titled Nigeria: Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta described the Niger Delta situation as “human rights tragedy.” Notably, violations of the rights (e.g., to adequate standard of living, life, health, food, water, etc.) of people of Niger Delta have been going on for years. Amnesty International (2011) reported that people living in oil-producing areas of the Niger Delta have seen their human rights undermined by oil companies, and that the Nigerian government has failed to hold any to account. The discovery and exploitation of oil have undermined sustainable development and human rights of Niger Delta communities (Omorodion 2004). The hanging of the environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the Ogoni ethnic minority was a major human rights violation that attracted worldwide attention in the 1990s. In assessing the situation in Niger Delta after the hanging of Saro Wiwa, Africa Focus Bulletin (2005) stated,

Ten years after the execution of human rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his colleagues by the Nigerian government, the issues of human rights and environmental devastation in the oil-producing Niger Delta remain unresolved. Despite the return to civilian rule in 1999 and pledges by oil companies to implement voluntary corporate responsibility standards, new reports by Environmental Rights Action and Amnesty International document only limited action to correct abuses and deliver benefits to the residents of the oil producing areas.