Conference in the Netherlands Questions Shell Officials on Nigerian Oil Pollution

Environmental organizations, business officials from the Royal Dutch Shell company, and Dutch lawmakers convened in the Netherlands on Wednesday in The Hague to discuss possible shady and irresponsible actions taken by Shell in its dealings with Nigeria for oil. Organizations targeted the company claiming that their actions had led to irreparable damage in the vulnerable Niger Delta region because of continuous oil pollution and spills from Royal Dutch Shell rigs. The Economic Affairs Committee in the lower house of Parliament called the meeting after the Friends of the Earth group and Amnesty International accused Shell of "nontransparent, inconsistent and misleading figures" about oil pollution created under their jurisdiction. The groups claimed that the company was understating the facts in order to shirk their legal liability and "ignore human rights abuses". Shell's executive vice president for sub-Saharan Africa, Ian Craig claimed that many of the oil spills were caused by sabotage or "organized theft of oil", referred to as "bunkering". He also pleaded that although oil spills had become too often and common much of the pollution could be attributed to threats against employees which caused the company to not be able to fully engage in maintenance activities. Chief executive of Shell Netherlands, Peter de Wit, argued tat the company helped Nigeria by creating thousands of jobs and was not fully responsible for the pollution, some of that blame lay with the Nigerian government, he argued. He proceeded to state that it was not a matter of the company's dealings rather the problem was "the issue [of] different local circumstances". Craig added to this idea by stating that problems related to the oil business had more to do with Nigeria's, "high population density, the ensuing competition for resources, poverty, political marginalization and, of course, corruption, leading to frustration, violence, and criminality" and that all attempts to improve conditions had been impeded by "militant attacks on [their] staff and facilities and by a lack of funding".

This conference and its topics of debate show both the idea of political and economic change and the idea of common policy issues. It demonstrates how problems related to attempted political change and efforts to globalize Nigeria's economy can lead to an increase in political and economic destabilization. Furthermore, by the statement that this was an "issue[of] different local circumstances" we can infer that a part of this problem and pollution had more to do with regionalism and the development and lack there of in different parts of Nigeria rather than the actions of the Royal Dutch Shell company. This event also demonstrates common policy issues such as environmental degradation, population, and economic performance. According to the article, the pollution in Nigeria is worse than "perhaps any other place on earth" showing that attempted economic leaps come at a cost. Population plays in to this issue as Craig states that overpopulation, poor demographic clustering, and poverty leads to corruption and "bunkering". Lastly this event plays into the idea that although the Nigeria Delta region has suffered a great deal from the effects of poor oil infrastructure, without this business partnership, the Nigerian economy would deflate severely.