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industry watchdog, Platform of London has accused Royal Dutch Shell, the parent company of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) of funding armed gangs, which had fuelled human rights abuses in Nigeria.
The company, the biggest operator in the West African nation’s oil industry, Shell Nigeria, has denied the allegations.
Platform, a London-based non-governmental organisation monitoring the oil and gas industry, in a 75-page report made available to The Moment yesterday said the Anglo-Dutch major paid government forces that have attacked, tortured and killed Nigerians living in the creeks and swamplands of the Niger Delta.
‘Basic company errors have exacerbated violent conflicts in which entire communities have been destroyed. Goods and services worth billions of Naira have been lost in revenues to the government and oil companies, which had sent shocks to the global economy,’ the report said.
‘While primary responsibility for human rights violations falls on the Nigerian government and other perpetrators, Shell has played an active role in fuelling conflict and violence in a variety of forms,’ Platform said.
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