Ogoni group opposes Shell over oil spill

A plan by oil multinational Shell to evaluate a major crude oil spill site in the Ogoni area of Nigeria’s southern region on Thursday ahead of a clean up has been opposed by the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP).

‘The Guardian’ Lagos daily said MOSOP, which defends the interests of the ethnic minority Ogoni people, was opposed to Shell’s pre clean-up survey of the Yorla site. This, MOSOP said, was because Shell had not consulted landowners whose farms, fishing ponds and water sources were polluted by the spill which occurred early last month.

“Since Shell did not consult with all the stakeholders in the Yorla blow-out, the security of the personnel of the oil company could not be guaranteed at the site of the incident,” MOSOP was quoted as saying.

MOSOP added that locals were particularly angry over Shell’s allegations that the oil wells had been sabotaged, so as to extract compensation from the oil giant. MOSOP said it wanted an evaluation of the site when it could bring in its own experts to corroborate Shell’s findings.