“He cursed the earth for spouting oil – black gold they called it!”
“And as I was going, I was just thinking how the war have spoiled my town Dukana, uselessed many people, killed many others, killed my mama and my wife, Agnes, my beautiful young wife with J.J.C and now it have…
Trapped in water privatisation
A friend of mine recently complained that she now had to pay for water as it was no longer included in her rent. She now has to be more conscious about the amount of water she uses for showering and…
Media reform-“Trickle up journalism”
Highlights from the “National Conference on Media Reform” – Words for thought: We need to see “the view from the top” to understand the depth and extent of events but also we need the “view from the bottom” -those personal…

The other oil spill – the one in Nigeria
Sahara Reporters founder, Omoyele Sowore writing in the Huffington Post on Exxon Mobil’s 30 year record of oil spills in the Niger Delta. Contrary to Nigeria’s new finance Olusegun Aganga [aka Minister of Financial Double Speak] who claimed in a recent…
The “other / unreported oil spill”
As we all continue to watch the daily reports on the Gulf oil spill, Riz Khan interviews aide to President Jonathan, Oronto Douglas, marine biologist Rick Steiner and Friends of the Earth lawyer, Geert Risema on the Niger Delta oil…
The prophets have abandoned us to our lies
“The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died.” Revelation 16:3 Estimated Prophet – © Geoffrey Philp The prophets have abandoned…
Toxicgas – Shell’s new gas flare
In May 2009, the Nigerian government once again extended the deadline to end gas flaring…Gas flaring is the burning of the natural gas that is produced on the surface during the production process. The flares are either blown off in…
Shell “Sorry” to the people of the Niger Delta
This was a spoof by the Yes Men to try and get Shell to retract an apology they never made. Unfortunately it didn’t work – they tried, we tried but it fell flat as a bloody pancake on a wet…
Multinationals on trial
Shell, Chevron in the Niger Delta, Texaco/ Chevron in the Ecuadoran Amazon – both examples of militarisation of commerce and corporate theft and violence against communities. In 1993 the communities of Lago Agrio in Ecuador sued Chevron / Texaco for…
Has mining Haiti’s riches contributed to the earthquake?
An important and thoughtful post from Haitian blogger, Ezili Danto who raises a number of serious questions around why the earthquake happened at this time – the first in 239 years. In the Mining Haiti’s Riches interview, I recount how…

Dumping death
Bhopal – 23 years on the site has still not been cleaned up. Oil spills in Oloibiri Dumping toxic waste in Nairobi Lesotho – GAP/ Levi factory dumps chemical waste Trafugura dumped on Abidjan
Nigerian farmers take Shell to court
Today is the start of a landmark court brought by four farmers from the Niger Delta against Shell Oil. The Nigerian farmers and fishers, who lost their livelihoods after oil from leaking Shell pipelines streamed over their fields and fishing…
Grand theft Congo – who are the plunderers?
Most of us probably havent even heard of cassiterite – the mineral used in electronics especially laptops. There was a time when laptops used to be hugely expensive. Now you can pick up one for a couple of hundred pounds. …
Corporate committee of shitheads
Current TV – Sahara Reporters
Interactive map of Niger Delta
An interactive map of the Niger Delta by the Financial Times showing oil fields and conflict zones –See MAP Umaru Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s president, offered an amnesty to militants in the Niger Delta on Friday as part of his strategy for…
Ogoni 9 – Shell settlement: Victory, but justice deferred?
The following article is published in Pambazuka News and is written by Sokari Ekine and Firoze Manji “And as I was going, I was just thinking how the war have spoiled my town Dukana, uselessed many people, killed many others,…
Wiwa v Shell: $15.5 million settlement
The case has been settled out of court with $10 million going to the 10 plaintiffs and $5 million being gifted to the Ogoni people. Details of the settlement are here and here. Below is part of the statement from…
Wiwa v Shell postponed indefinitely means what?
The trial has been delayed over and over and finally well we thought finally it was due to start on the 26th May and then 27th May. Another cancellation and now we learn that both the trial and the pre-trial…
Roundup of Commentary on Shell trial & military massacre in Warri
Ken Saro Wiwa Jr writes in London Observer “Now at last it’s time for Shell to atone for my father’s death” Ken Saro-Wiwa’s real “crime” was his audacity to sensitise local and global public opinion to the ecological and human…
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