Religious and pressure groups are continuing their attack on Shell over
its actions in Nigeria in advance of the company’s annual meeting.
The oil giant’s troubles in the volatile West African state, which are
thought to have prompted other multinationals to begin reviewing the
social and environmental impact of their operations, show no signs of
abating. Last month one of the pioneers of shareholder activism in the
UK, the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility, announced it
was gathering support for a resolution on the subject at Royal Dutch
Shell’s annual meeting on 16 May.
The ECCR, whose members include
the Church of England and the Central Finance Board of the Methodist
Church, claims Shell has failed to carry out proper environmental and
social impact assessments in the Niger Delta, to respect fundamental
human rights, or to consult stakeholders properly. Shell’s
alleged failure to answer grievances ‘has led to conflict in Nigeria’.
Last month Shell faced further problems in the area when two of its
contractors were killed in an attack on one of its facilities by a
group calling itself the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger
Delta. The same group also took four expatriate oilworkers hostage, but
later released them. Shell controls about half of Nigeria’s daily
exports of 2.5 million barrels of oil a day.
Militants in the delta have attracted support from locals upset that
oil wealth has done little to reduce poverty in the region. Shell’s
activities there were highlighted in 1995 when human rights campaigner
Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed after campaigning against the influence of
oil companies.
ECCR claims to have been ‘actively engaged’ with Shell since 1994 on
its operations in Nigeria. Its pioneering shareholder resolution on
environment and human rights in the country put forward in 1997
received the support of 11 per cent of the company’s shareholders, with
a further 6.5 per cent abstaining.
But ECCR says Shell is still failing to carry out ‘effective and
complete’ environmental and social impact assessments of new
developments or modifications to existing facilities.
Shell, which derives about ten per cent of its oil production from
Nigeria, told EP that it does not comment in advance on AGM
resolutions. However, it said that ‘while security problems still exist
in the Niger Delta region’, Shell Nigeria ‘has developed a cordial
relationship with the majority of its host communities, and engages
government constantly to seek out ways of managing security challenges
to its business’.
