Mohammad Sarfaraz Siddiqui CM Assignment: Shell Nigeria 03.05.

2012

The basic issue in the case is that of conflict between the Nigerian people and its government. The government has taken control of most of the resources of the country including the rights to the land. Previously as well the Ogoni people had been wronged when the government took control of the palm oil they were producing. Thus after years of suffering at the hands of the government, the Ogoni people have woken up to fight for their rights. This time the disputed resource is the oil and the organization on the forefront is SPDC which is doing the oil exploration in the region. While it might seem that Shell is synonyms for SPDC and this is the way Ken Saro-Wiva is using it, it is not true as Shell owns only 30% stake in SPDC as opposed to the Nigerian government which owns 55%. These dynamics makes SPDC a holding company for the Nigerian government. Because the Ogoni people and the Nigerian government are unable to communicate and negotiate with each other directly, Ken Saro-Wiva and the Ogoni people are using Shell as a proxy to gain attention international attention which might eventually force the Nigerian government to take some action. The argument presented by the Ogoni people is that since SPDC has been taking a valuable resource from the Ogoni people from a long time it is the duty of the SPDC to provide and the right of the Ogoni people to get a share of the income earned as a consequence of the resource extraction. The demands of the Ogoni people to control political affairs of Ogoniland, the right to use and control fair share of Ogoni economic resources, representation in national institutions, the right to religious freedom and preservation of environment are justified since they are the inhabitants of the land from where the resource is being extracted. Even though Shell is operating in the Ogoniland and admits to certain environmental concerns, it is not responsible for all the accusations put against it by the Ogoni people. Shell has provided justifications for various concerns including the oil spills and the charges against placing pipelines through villages. For the others, Shell has just a 30% stake and takes away only 4% in revenues from the Ogoniland. The charges have actually been placed against the government but focused against Shell in order to gain international and local attention to get the government to its feet. Shell in Nigeria is caught in a regional conflict where it has to take sides among the local people and the Nigerian government, and between the organizational values and national values. Shell has the organizational policy of remaining apolitical in whichever country it operates and it is because of this policy that Shell did not take any substantive step in the Ken Saro-Wiva trial. The fight is between the government and its people and they have the right to sort it out among themselves without the interference of a multinational organization. Regardless of its policy, Shell requested clemency for people found guilty in the trial but the government didnt listen and executed them. Shell later also settled the Ogoniland and Ken SaroWiva case with US$15.5 million based on humanitarian grounds.