Shell And Nigerian Oil And Utilitarianism Essay

, Research Paper

Shell Oil and the Exploitation of Nigeria

Nigeria has been a country in political turmoil for a long time. The country was created in 1914 under British colonial rule and at that time it was considered a protectorate. It was not until 1960 that Nigeria received independence from the United Kingdom. One of Nigeria s problems politically is that it has over three hundred different ethnic groups. The three largest of these are the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba. At the time of the independence of Nigeria it was split up into three states with each state being under the control of one of the major ethnic groups. The natural resources of the other 297 ethnic groups were exploited for the major three groups, creating a situation of political unrest. This resulted in a military coup d etat throwing out the Prime Minister and replacing him with a major Igbo General. The minorities wanted a political restructuring through states and they won. There was an Igbo secession from Nigeria forming Biafra in Eastern Nigeria including the Ogoni territory. A three-year civil war broke out after this over the natural resources held by the minorities especially the oil in the Ogoni territory. After this Nigeria went through several forms of Military governments and a public election in 1993 was considered null and void by Gen. Babangida, he was taken over by Gen. Abacha in 1993 who was to be by far the most horrid dictator of Nigeria yet.

The plight of the Ogoni people has been heard around the world, they number around 500,000 and live in an area very rich in crude oil. Shell and other companies have drilling operations in the Ogoni territory but Shell is by far the major extractor of oil in the region. Do to the drilling and spillage of massive amounts of oil the ecosystem of the Ogoni people has been devastated. It resembles a wasteland with little to no vegetation and wildlife being very scarce. Furthermore the Ogoni people have received almost nothing for the all the oil exported from their land. An estimated 10 billion dollars a year is earned for the Nigerian government most of which is embezzled by high ranking officials or put into the military to keep the population oppressed. One man led his people to stand out against the tyranny named Ken Saro-Wiwa a native Ogoni who had gone off and became educated and very successful, but he came back to fight for the right of his people. He formed MOSOP(Movement for survival of Ogoni people) and vociferously spoke out against the government of Nigeria. He wrote a Bill of Rights calling for protection of the environment in the Ogoni region and basic rights for the Ogoni people. His Bill of Rights was completely ignored by the government. He went on to do peaceful demonstrations against Shell s oil plants where special police forces came in and killed and injured many Ogoni people. In May 1995 Ken Sao-Wiwa and his close MOSOP associates were accused of the murders of four Ogoni chiefs. Their trial was closed to the public Ken Saro-Wiwa s legal defense resigned saying that the trial was not impartial or independent and no matter what they would all be found guilty. Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his close associates were all hanged. Shell has since spent millions trying to repair the damage they inadvertently caused in Nigeria and the world s major powers have taken small actions against Nigeria.

Violation of Human Rights, destruction of the environment, and denial of freedom of speech and congregation are the ethical issues raised in this case. The Human Rights violations are many. The Nigerian special police force raped, tortured, and murdered hundreds who spoke out against the tyrannical government. All together they killed 2,000 Ogoni, razed 27 villages and displaced over 80,000 people who fled into the bush as refugees. The oil spills by the Shell Company, the lying of the pipeline across farmlands, and the extraction of the oil has raped the land of the Ogoni. The plant and wildlife in the region is all dying the soil becomes infertile and the air is no longer clean. These harms against the environment will take thousands of years to heal and can be seen as an atrocity that cannot be repaired. The last ethical issue I saw was the denial of the right of freedom of speech and assembly. The Ogoni made many peaceful demonstrations against Shell plants where each time the special police came out and gunned them down, certain times the police were called into action by Shell officials who knew the practices the police used to stop these demonstrations. The Nigerian government stated that all these altercations and deaths were just small communal fights. American officials went in to study these so called communal altercations and found that the weapons used could have only been of a military source.

The human values which are at stake are similar to the ethical issues which the case raises. In this case there is a minority which is being oppressed by the majority the ways they oppress are brutal and take away inalienable God given rights. The ways the Nigerian government acted led by Gen. Abacha were atrocious. The average Ogoni is unable to flourish in his/her environment. Education and medical are not available to most of the population. Of the 5,000 Shell employees in the region only 88 are Ogoni. For farmers their soil is infertile and their plant life is tainted. These people have no opportunity to flo