Foreign Interference in Nigeria

23 December 2010

Noor Adam Essack 

Shell's grip on the country

According to a leaked US diplomatic cable, Shell claimed it had inserted staff into all the main ministries of the Nigerian government, giving it access to politicians' every move in the oil-rich Niger Delta. The company's top executive in Nigeria (Ann Pickard, then Shell's vice-president for sub-Saharan Africa) told US diplomats that Shell had seconded employees to every relevant department and so knew "everything that was being done in those ministries". She boasted that the Nigerian government had "forgotten" about the extent of Shell's infiltration and was unaware of how much the company knew about its deliberations. The cache of secret dispatches from Washington's embassies in Africa also revealed that the Anglo-Dutch oil firm swapped intelligence with the US, in one case providing US diplomats with the names of Nigerian politicians it suspected of supporting militant activity, and requesting information from the US on whether the militants had acquired anti-aircraft missiles.

Campaigners said the revelation about Shell in Nigeria demonstrated the tangled links between the oil firm and politicians in the country where, despite billions of dollars in oil revenue, 70% of people live below the poverty line.

In a confidential memo from the US embassy in Abuja on 20 October 2009, Pickard related how the company had obtained a letter showing that the Nigerian government had invited bids for oil concessions from China. She said the minister of state for petroleum resources, Odein Ajumogobia, had denied the letter had been sent but Shell knew similar correspondence had taken place with China and Russia. Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer and the eighth biggest exporter in the world, accounting for 8% of US oil imports. The WikiLeaks disclosure was seized on by campaigners as evidence of Shell's vice-like grip on the country's oil wealth. "Shell is everywhere. They have an eye and an ear in every ministry of Nigeria. They have people on the payroll in every community, which is why they get away with everything. They are more powerful than the Nigerian government," said Celestine AkpoBari, of Social Action Nigeria.

The criticism was echoed by Ben Amunwa of the London-based oil watchdog Platform. "Shell claims to have nothing to do with Nigerian politics," he said. "In reality, Shell works deep inside the system, and has long exploited political channels in Nigeria to its own advantage."

Pickard also said Shell had learned from the British government details of Russian energy company Gazprom's ambitions to enter the Nigerian market. In June last year, Gazprom signed a $2.5bn (£1.5bn) deal with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations.

The cable confirms what communities in the Niger Delta have long suspected. Shell wields enormous power over Nigeria and is actively exploiting the political turmoil in the West African nation. The oil giant has a major influence on any laws and policy decisions that affect its profits. For decades, Shell has cultivated a political environment where it can get away with almost anything, from tax dodging to daily oil spills and gas flaring, in violation of human rights and Nigerian law. The company’s political strategy boosts its profits, but it has devastated the lives of local communities and aided corruption in Nigeria. 

Pfizer sabotages lawsuit

A US diplomatic cable exposed by WikiLeaks alleges that the pharmaceutical company Pfizer had hired private investigators to gather evidence of corruption by the then-attorney general in order to get him to drop a federal lawsuit against the pharmaceutical giant.

Pfizer had been sued by the Kano state government on behalf of citizens and an agreement was reached in April of 2009 for US $75 million, but the federal government was also seeking to sue the company for an amount that remains undisclosed. The lawsuits related to Pfizer’s testing of a new meningitis drug in 1996 on 100 children in the country, while another 100 were treated with a standard antibiotic. Pfizer is accused of causing the deaths of at least 11 children while several dozen were left deformed or disabled for life. The company was accused of using poverty-stricken members of the population for the testing of their new product, which was proven hazardous. Pfizer was further accused of failing to obtain patients’ “informed consent” before administering the antibiotic Trovan, which has since been singled out by the Food and Drug Administration as dangerous due to its propensity for inducing liver failure and has been withdrawn from the market. 

When the Nigerian federal government attempted to sue Pfizer, the company allegedly began leaking evidence of corruption by Federal Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa to local media outlets, which caused his resignation and the suspension of the lawsuit. 

John Le Carré wrote the script for the film The Constant Gardener based on this sordid story.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was framed

The controversy surrounding Ken Saro-Wiwa has persisted for 15 years. Compelling new evidence suggests the Nigerian military killed four Ogoni elders whose murders led to the execution of the playwright and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995. The evidence also reveals that the notorious military commander Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Okuntimo, whose troops were implicated in murder and rape, was in the pay of Shell at the time of the killings and was driven around in a Shell vehicle.

Since the time of Saro-Wiwa's death, Shell has insisted that it had no financial relationship with the Nigerian military, although it has admitted paying it "field allowances" on two occasions. It has consistently denied any widespread collusion and payments. However, witness accounts that were to be used in evidence in the case of Wiwa vs Shell, brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's family provide fresh insight into Shell's financial and logistical involvement with the Nigerian military and with Lt-Col Okuntimo. The case was settled last May for $15.5m, just days before it was due to start in New York. The settlement meant the testimonies were never made public.

One of the key witnesses due to testify was Boniface Ejiogu, Lt-Col Okuntimo's orderly in the Internal Security Task Force, a coalition of army, navy and police. Mr Ejiogu testified to standing guard as victims were raped and tortured while Lt-Col Okuntimo was in command. Asked if he ever saw his commander receive money from Shell, he said he witnessed it on two occasions. 

MrEjiogu also offers compelling evidence as to who may have murdered the four Ogoni elders at a meeting on 21 May 1994. Saro-Wiwa was due to speak but was turned away by the military. Mr Ejiogu said he heard Lt-Col Okuntimo tell his task force commander to "waste them... in the army you waste them is when you are shooting rapidly". Within 24 hours Saro-Wiwa was arrested and charged with the murders. It was implied that he had had the elders killed because of their moderate stance on Ogoni issues. Despite an international outcry, he was hanged in November 1995, following a sham trial described by the then British prime minister, John Major, as "judicial murder".