ROAPE Publications Ltd.

Oil &Injustice in Nigeria: Ken Saro-WiwaAuthor(s): Amnesty InternationalSource: Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 32, No. 106, Africa from SAPs to PRSP:Plus Ca Change Plus C'est la Meme Chose (Dec., 2005), pp. 636-637Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20059116 .

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636 Review of African Political Economy

Endnotes

1. According to the Biafra Foundation sources, VOBI transmits on shortwaves at 7384 KHz (41 metres band) only on

Saturdays between 21.00

22.00 hours UTC or 10.00-11.00 p.m. Nigerian time (see http://www.biafraland.com/Biafra_ 2003.htm); accessed on 21 August 2004.

2. Vilification of Ibo leaders who disagree with

the neo-Biafra cause is one of the major weapons of propaganda used by the movement. VOBI

weekly news analyses published in the AF website

are full of such vilification accounts (see various

editions of 'This is the News Analysis Segment of the Voice of Biafra International Broadcasts'

in the AF website, but in particular, http:// www.biafraland.com/newsanalysis080704. htm.

Bibliographie Note

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BAF (2003), 'Actualising Biafra', Biafra Actualisation Forum; http://www.biafraland.

com/actualizing_biafra.htm; accessed on 22

August 2004.

BF (2003), 'Communique: International Con

ference on Biafra Held in Greenbelt, Maryland on

18 October'; accessed on 13 July 2004; (2004), 'New Year Message to the People and Nation of

Biafra from Biafra Foundation', 1 January; http: /

/www.biafraland.com/new_year_message_ 2004$$$.htm; accessed on 15 August 2004.

BF (2004), 'New Year (2004) Message to the

People and Nation of Biafra from Biafra

Foundation', January 1, http://www.biafra

land.com/new_year_message _2004$$$.htm; accessed on 15 August 2004.

BNW Magazine (2002), 'MASSOB Leader, Chief

Ralph Uwazurike Takes the Hot Seat',

September; Biafra Nigeria World; accessed on

15 August 2004. http://magazine.biafra

nigeriaworld.com/BNWstaff/2002sepll.html.

Daily Champion (2004), 'MASSOB Declares

August 26 Stay-at-Home Day', Daily Cham

pion, 12 August; http://allafrica.com/stories/ 200408120443.html; accessed on 13 August 2004.

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MASSOB, 21 May; http://www.kwenu.com/ biafra/massob/ aba_declaration.htm; accessed

on 19 August 2004.

Oil & Injustice in Nigeria: Ken Saro-Wiwa

Amnesty International

Ten years after the execution of Ken

Saro-Wiwa, the struggle for justice for the people in the Niger Delta continues.

The execution of writer and human

rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa and

eight other activists, (the 'Ogoni nine') on 10 November 1995, raised a storm of

outrage across the world. Their deaths

highlighted the suffering of the Ogoni people in the oil-rich delta of the Niger river. The Nigerian government was

widely denounced and the oil company Shell condemned for its ambiguous and belated interventions. But 10 years later, how much has changed for the people of the Niger Delta?

Ken Saro-Wiwa fought for an end to the environmental damage that was turning his homeland into what he described as a 'wasteland', endangering the people's health and livelihoods. Today oil spills still blacken the land and pollute the

waterways. Hundreds of gas flares burn

day and night, filling the sky with soot

and fumes. Operational practices such

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0/7 & Injustice in Nigeria 637

as these, so close to people's homes,

farms and waterways, would not be

tolerated in the countries where the oil

companies have their headquarters.

The inhabitants of the Niger Delta re

main among the most deprived oil com

munities in the world - 70% live on less

than US$1 a day. In spite of its windfall

gains, as global oil prices have more than

doubled in the last two years, the Nige rian government has failed to provide services, infrastructure or jobs in the

region.

The military government which executed

Ken Saro-Wiwa and his companions was replaced in 1999 by a civilian

government. Yet government security forces continue to kill people in the Niger

Delta with impunity. Excessive force is

used to protect the oil industry and

restore law and order - and the human

rights of communities are regularly vio

lated.

The powerful oil companies operating in

the region are perceived by communities

and many activists on the ground as

complicit in past human rights abuses.

Some oil companies have admitted that

their operations have contributed to fuel

ling conflict. In recent years, under pres sure to demonstrate corporate

responsibility, companies have devel

oped voluntary codes of conduct, but

these have not been able to reduce the

negative impact of their operations in the

region.

It is like paradise and hell. They have

everything. We have nothing... If we

protest, they send soldiers. They sign agreements with us and then ignore

us.

We have graduates going hungry, with out jobs. And they bring people from

Lagos to work here, says Eghare W.O.

Ojhogar, chief of the Ugborodo com

munity in Delta State.

On 4 February 2005, soldiers fired on

protesters at Chevron's Escravos oil ter

minai on the coast of the western Niger Delta. One man was killed and at least 30

others were injured. The protest was over

the company's failure to fulfil an agree ment to provide jobs and development projects to the local Ugborodo commu

nity.

Just two weeks later, at least 17 people were reported to have been killed and two women raped when soldiers raided the town of Odioma. The attack was

ostensibly to arrest members of an armed

vigilante group suspected of killing 12

people, including four local councillors. Members of this group were reported to

have been recruited by a sub-contractor

of Shell's subsidiary in Nigeria and to be

responsible for security in an area where oil exploration was being conducted,

despite their alleged criminal record. The

suspects were not captured but 80% of homes in Odioma were razed.

The Delta's marginalised peoples have no effective recourse

against such hu

man rights abuses. It is time for the

Nigerian government to end the impu nity enjoyed by the security forces for human rights violations past and

present. It is time for oil companies and the international community to ensure

that business operates within a frame work of international human rights standards for companies, like the UN

Norms for Business. Ten years after the

'Ogoni nine' were executed, it is time for

justice for the people of the Niger Delta.

Editor's Note: See ROAPE 66, 1995 for our Tribute to Ken Saro-Wiwa. Also see Caroline

Ifeka & Sylvanus Abua, 'Nigeria: Conservation, Traditional Knowledge & the Commons' in

ROAPE 104/05, June/September 2005.

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