How Shell Poisoned a People and Stole Their Right to Mourn
It was 1956 when Shell first came to Ogoniland, a lush region in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. Huge quantities of oil were discovered there, and by 1958, extraction had begun. This initially brought hope to the Ogoni people. It was seen as the dawn of progress – a chance for development, infrastructure, and prosperity to finally reach the region. But instead of opportunity, Shell and other International Oil Companies (IOCs) brought only exploitation. For the past six decades, the Ogoni people have been subjected to devastating ecological destruction, health crises and violent environmental racism, while Shell has seen a continuous rise in profits.
This was covered in Flotilla4Change’s recent online event “Voices From the Delta: Stories of Climate Justice and Resistance”, where we heard directly from environmental defenders Nbani Friday Barilule and Melody Gold Barry-Yobo. They are fighting for climate justice, advocating for Shell to be held accountable for the devastation that has been wrought upon the Ogoni people by decades of interference by international oil companies.
Voices of Resistance
During the event, Friday spoke about how the Ogoni people’s fathers and forefathers welcomed oil companies. Under British colonial rule at the time, they believed that oil wealth would bring development and opportunity to Ogoniland. Instead, streams became toxic due to repeated spills and unchecked oil exploration, leading to dwindling or non-existent fish populations. Instead of creating jobs for the Ogoni people, Shell’s presence wiped out traditional livelihoods such as fishing and farming, leaving communities with poisoned land and polluted air.
Since Shell first arrived in Ogoniland, endless oil spills have poisoned the land and waterways. There has also been continuous gas flaring, widely recognised as a serious violation of both human health and human rights. The effects are devastating: asthma rates are rising, congenital birth defects and infertility are increasingly common, and drinking water is contaminated with benzene levels 900 times higher than World Health Organisation standards. In Ogoni communities, simply breathing the air or drinking from a well can be a death sentence.
The average life expectancy in the Niger Delta is just 41 years.
Ogoni Resistance
The rebellion of the Ogoni people is nothing new. In 1990, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) was founded by Ken Saro-Wiwa and Ogoni chiefs. It was started as a platform of negotiation between the community, oil companies, and government, aiming to determine if any oil extraction activities provided benefits to the Ogoni people. They contended that Shell, and many other petroleum multinationals, had destroyed Ogoniland while benefiting from huge oil revenues stolen from the Ogoni people’s lands.
What followed were years of sustained protest against Shell, leading to the signing of the Ogoni Bill of Rights, which demanded “political control of Ogoni affairs by Ogoni people”. Conflicts escalated, culminating in the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other MOSOP rebels, named collectively as the Ogoni Nine, by the Nigerian government. To rub salt in the wound, Lazarus Baribiae Saale of Niger Delta University explains that “wake-keep and all-important rites given to heroes in the Ogoni tradition were not allowed by the Military Government. Ogoni land during this period was militarised and those who wore black clothes were arrested for mourning these activists”.
Mourning was criminalised, a brutal oppression aimed to humiliate Ken Saro-Wiwa, Ogoni culture, and MOSOP.
Fighting Back
In 2016, Friday founded the Lekeh Development Foundation (LEDEF). The organisation works closely with local communities, monitoring air and water quality and documenting oil spillages to report to the government. “Lekeh is from the Ogoni language,” Friday explains, “it means a comfortable, beautiful, healthy environment where humans can live”. It’s this vision that drives his fight for justice in the region. Despite attempts to engage Shell and identify who is responsible, justice has yet to be found. As a result, Friday is advocating for the case to be taken to a London court, believing it to be impossible to find it within Nigeria.
The Human Cost of Extraction
During the event, we also spoke with Melody Gold Barry-Yobo, a climate and environmental activist and facilitator of sustainable development initiatives. She shared the heartbreaking story of her daughter Anita, whose life was tragically cut short by leukaemia, a disease alarmingly common in oil-affected communities. Upon learning where Melody and Anita came from, the doctor treating Anita looked Melody in the face and said, “If you want your kids to live, move from Ogoniland.”
An ultimatum no mother should ever hear: leave your homeland, or your children will die.
“Oil spills have taken over the graves of our ancestors.” Melody says.
“You can no longer find graves in Ogoniland, because oil has taken over.”
She goes on to explain that the Niger Delta is one of the most polluted places on Earth, with 1,481 oil wells, 275 flow stations, over 7,000 oil and gas pipelines and over 120 gas flares. Ogoni people face displacement, famine, a drastic reduction in agricultural activities, and unsafe drinking water.
“Someone told me Shell can kill you in ways that you can’t even imagine,” she says, “but I am not afraid to die. My daughter died at 11 years old, and at least I can live twice her years.”
Shell is not only responsible for murdering innocent people and destroying homes, but also for erasing generations of cultural heritage, and even denying communities the dignity of mourning their dead. The time has come for Shell and other IOCs to be held accountable for their devastating actions in Ogoniland.
Flotilla4Change are facilitating a sailing flotilla to COP30, to platform voices of earth defenders and those most at risk from climate change and extractive capitalism. Find out how you can get involved and stand with climate activists like Melody and Friday.
‘Stories of Solidarity’, an event series from Flotilla4Change, platforms voices at the frontlines of the climate crisis. At a time when the world’s wealthiest nations continue to delay, deflect, or debate, ‘Stories of Solidarity’ calls for climate justice now, amplifying the perspectives of those most affected. We are here to challenge dominant narratives and offer grounded, community-led solutions.
Author: Alfie Amadeus