Royal Dutch Shell Plc., the oldest energy company in Africa’s biggest oil producer should face investigations for alleged complicity in Nigerian government abuses, in the oil-rich Niger Delta River, which is over more than two decades, Amnesty International, said.
Shell’s conduct should be investigated by authorities in Nigeria, the Netherlands and U.K particularly in the Ogoni area of the southern delta of Nigeria, the London-based human-rights group said.
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Criminal infractions were the violations linked to Europe’s largest energy company for which Amnesty says it should be prosecuted. Although Shell said the allegations “are without merit.”
Audrey Gaughran, director of Global Issues at Amnesty International, said “The evidence we have reviewed shows that Shell repeatedly encouraged the Nigerian military to deal with community protests, even when it knew the horrors this would lead to- unlawful killings, rape, torture, the burning of villages”.
The company’s unit in Nigerian said Shell “did not collude with the authorities to suppress community unrest and in no way encouraged or advocated any act of violence in Nigeria. We believe that the evidence will show clearly that Shell was not responsible for these tragic events.”
Endurance Okafor
