No Progress

Three years after the publication of a groundbreaking report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on oil pollution in Ogoniland, the people of Ogoniland continue to suffer the effects of fifty years of an oil industry which has polluted their land, air and water.

The oil company Shell and the Nigerian Government have both failed to implement recommendations made in the UNEP report and put an end to the abuse of the communities’ rights to food, water and a life free of pollution. This briefing details how both the government and Shell have failed to ensure adequate provision of emergency water supplies to people who UNEP found were drinking oil-contaminated water. Shell has not addressed the pollution identified by UNEP and has continued to use deeply flawed clean-up practices.

Beyond the implementation of some emergency measures the Government of Nigeria has also failed in its responsibility to ensure the recommendations of the report are implemented, offering the communities little more than empty rhetoric in the three years that have passed since the report was published.

After more than fifty years of suffering the ill-effects of the oil industry and three years of waiting for adequate clean-up, the need for urgent action is clearer than ever for the oil-affected communities of Ogoniland.

No Progress