Oil Spills in the Niger Delta: It’s a Matter of Political Will

Council on Foreign Relations

10 August 2011

Oil Spills in the Niger Delta: It’s a Matter of Political Will

by John Campbell

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...recently, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has released a study evaluating oil pollution in a specific region, Ogoniland, with scientific rigor. The report makes specific recommendations with the goal of a thoroughgoing clean-up. Deidre LaPin provides an excellent analysis of the background to the report and a quick summary of its findings and its conclusions here.

It is easy to blame the international oil companies for degradation of the Niger Delta environment, all the more so when Exxon is reporting that its profits world-wide increased by 69 percent during this year’s first quarter while Shell’s are up 30 percent. But, the real story does not lend itself to a morality tale.