Archived press release

House of Lords seminar on oil and Nigeria

23 November 2005

In a week that is seeing record prices for natural gas in the UK and the UK Government prepares to launch an energy review, peers and MPs will gather in the House of Lords on Thursday to hear about the role of an increasingly unstable Nigeria in US and UK energy security plans.

The seminar on Foreign Policy, Energy Security and Social Justice in the Niger Delta, is one of a series of events marking the tenth anniversary of the executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni colleagues. They were executed after campaigning against the effects of the oil industry in Nigeria.

Ten years on, questions remain about the UK's reliance and influence on countries rich in oil.

Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, Ken Wiwa, will comment on the legacy of his father's non-violent message. He will argue that his execution sent the wrong message to those struggling for justice in the Delta, allowing violence and militarization to increase to today's dangerous level.

James Marriott, is a co-director of PLATFORM and co-author of a new book called The Next Gulf: London, Washington and oil conflict in Nigeria. He will argue that Washington and increasingly London, sees Nigeria and other oil producers in West Africa as a partial counterweight to the Persian Gulf, capable of shoring up oil and gas supplies at least in the short to medium term, should instability in the Middle East spiral out of control.

As a result of 5 decades of underdevelopment, corruption and pollution, and following the brutal suppression of movements for justice led by Saro-Wiwa and others, instability in Nigeria's oil producing states is higher than ever. The US military now talks openly about asserting a presence in the region explicitly for the purpose of securing oil and gas supplies and has conducted naval exercises in the Gulf of Guinea recently while it continues to negotiate with So Tomé over a permanent forward operating base. The question of whether the UK would seriously consider following the US into the Niger Delta needs to be raised before it follows the pattern of inevitability seen in the case of Iraq.

Tony Juniper, Director of Friends of the Earth, will look at what the UK Government could be doing from home to help to turn the situation around. He will detail the environmental damage and injustice caused by Shell's operations in the Niger Delta and how changes to UK company law are needed in order to prevent such abuses by UK corporations operating overseas. The Company Law Reform Bill that is currently progressing through Parliament provides the Government with an unprecedented opportunity to address this issue and ensure that UK companies are made accountable for their environmental and social impacts, wherever they operate. Giving local communities in the Delta a legitimate, legal channel through which to bring their grievances against the international oil companies that have operating among them for 50 years could go some way towards ending the cycle of violence.

The event will also launch two important books:

The Next Gulf: London, Washington and Oil Conflict in Nigeria, by Andy Rowell, James Marriott and Lorne Stockman, published by Constable on 10 November 2005, and

A Month and a Day and Letters, by Ken Saro-Wiwa with Foreword by Wole Soyinka, to be published by Ayebia Publishing on 24 November, 2005. (This is the re-publication of Ken Saro-Wiwa's prison diaries with previously unpublished letters)

Notes

1) The Seminar will take place at the House of Lords on Thursday, 24^th November 12:30-2pm in Committee Room 2. Entrance via St Stephens Gate.

2) Nigeria currently produces 2.4million barrels of oil a day, supplying over 10% of US consumption. Due to instability Iraq has only averaged 1.9million barrels a day in 2005. Nigeria plans to reach 4million barrels a day by 2010 and supply 15% of US consumption. Nigeria also has vast supplies of natural gas and is positioning to be a major supplier of gas to the US and Europe. The UK has just become a net importer of gas following a decline in North Sea supplies and is set to become a net importer of oil by 2010.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust