At Ebubu in Ogoni, twenty-four years after a pipeline blowout, a three acre site is still heavily polluted and encrusted with crude oil102. In 1992, published scientific studies concluded that wetlands downstream from the site were being contaminated by oil seepage103. Eric Nickson from Shell International claimed that Shell's clean-up operations continued until 1990, but since oil had 'reappeared', Shell would start again in 1994104. Eyewitness accounts say that Shell has done little, if anything, to rehabilitate the area105. Dr Olua O Kamalu, a medical doctor in the region explains what happens in the searing heat106:
'... when the sun hits this thing [the encrusted oil] it melts and it evaporates into the atmosphere increasing the carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide content and ... if you live purely by rainwater ... the chemical, now the carbon monoxide, and the high concentration of carbon dioxide gets dissolved in water and what they [local community] drink is acid water.'
Meanwhile, Mr Achebe, Shell's Business Development Manager in Nigeria, according to a leading London newspaper107:
'... implicitly conceded that Shell had done almost nothing to clean up its pollution because only the Ogonis were making noise.'
Therefore, while Shell talks of its commitment not being 'cosmetic' or 'token', these statements appear hollow when considering the company's real priorities concerning the problems in the Niger Delta.
Furthermore, in its most recent publication on the situation, Operations in Nigeria108, Shell states:
'SPDC believes most of the environmental problems are not the result of oil operations. An independent assessment would be helpful to focus on facts and, together with those concerned, address any remedies required.'
Firstly, as this report has highlighted, the problems of the Niger Delta are largely because of oil extraction. It is for reasons such as these, and for those communities mentioned, that the release of Shell's EIAs and its Five Year Environmental Plan is imperative. Without them, a full and open assessment of the environmental and social damage along the Delta cannot be conducted.
Secondly, so long as Shell continues to view the problems of the Niger Delta purely as a public relations problem _ protecting the 'reputation of the Group' _ for many people of the Niger Delta, reforms, if they happen, will come too late.
And finally, what the Ogoni and other communities along the Niger Delta are experiencing is one more example from many of what happens to communities when they attempt to stand up to those companies draining the resources they are so dependent on. The way in which Shell operates, not unlike so many other oil companies, has simply become the acceptable way of conducting business. So too has the environmental and social price others pay for our dependency on precious natural resources.
For the lesson already learnt by some communities is to beware the slogan, 'You can be sure of Shell'.