In Court

flare-down: The burning of natural gas by oil firms in the Niger Delta violates the human rights of local people and should be stopped immediately, ruled the high court of Benin City in Nigeria. The ruling was issued in a case filed by the Iwerekan community of Delta State against the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp, the state oil company, and Shell Development Petroleum Corporation, which controls nearly half of the country's oil production capacity. The companies immediately appealed the order.

E-waste from the West

A recent study conducted by Basel Action Network (ban), a us -based lobby group, found that around 500 containers packed with old computers, televisions and mobile phones were arriving every month in Lagos, Nigeria. These electronics come for repair and re-use but an estimated 75 per cent of it gets dumped at official landfill sites or by roadsides and in swamps.

Slippery track

August 2005 was another rough time for oil major Shell Oil's Nigeria operation. Frustrated over lack of adequate compensation by the company for a devastating oil spill in December 2003, host communities shut down two of Shell's pumping stations that produce around 40,000 barrels of oil daily.

In court

Flaring concern: Nigeria's rural communities affected by gas-flaring recently filed a lawsuit in the federal High Court in Benin city to make oil giants Shell, Exxon, Chevron and Total desist from the illegal practice. The Nigerian government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation have also been named in the case, supported by environmental groups Environmental Rights Action and Friends of the Earth.

Oil is fatal

Nigeria's army has been accused of killing at least 30 people and setting ablaze many houses while investigating an oil dispute between two communities. The communities living in the neighbouring towns of Odioma and Obioku in southern Niger Delta claim ownership of a patch of swampland, Owukubu, where oil giant Shell recently initiated drilling activities. The resulting claims over the newly created jobs and welfare opportunities have led to violent clashes.

Farmers, herdsmen clash

Nigeria's Adamawa state recently witnessed a weeklong fierce battle between nomadic herdsmen and farmers. In the deadliest of these clashes, ethnic Fulani herdsmen attacked the farming village of Bali, killing 28 people. At least 30 people were killed in all.

Sugar coated pill for shell

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), a subsidiary of petroleum giant Royal Dutch/Shell, will have to clean up more than 250 oil spills linked to its operations in Nigeria's Rivers State. Rivers State governor Peter Odili recently made this known to SPDC managing director Basil Omiyi. Odili said the spills are dangerous for the environment and urged the company to take the help of the country's environment ministry in the clean-up.

Acting holy

bypassing the Nigerian government, oil company Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (spdcnl) has decided to fund human development activities in the country through direct partnership with the un Development Programme (undp). Ironically, it is the oil exploration activities undertaken by companies like Shell that sparked rebellion in the Niger delta.

Shell shocked

Petroleum giant Royal Dutch Petroleum Company (Shell) will have to pay the Ijaw, a Nigerian ethnic group, US $1.5 billion for causing oil spills in their homeland since 1956. The Nigerian senate asked the company on August 24, 2004, to pay the compensation. Though the senate can't enforce the order as it is a legislative body, the country's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, can do so, senate spokesperson Henry Ugbolue told the media.

How effective is the global polio eradication drive?

an optimistic note, about wiping out polio from the six afflicted countries, was to be sounded at a conference organised by the World Health Organisation (who) in Geneva on January 15. Instead, the sudden re-emergence of the disease in two African nations -- Benin and Cameroon -- set the alarm bells ringing and turned it into an emergency meeting.