Shell damage limitation tour offers no easy answers

IT IS easy for Western observers to oversimplify the political situation in Nigeria and its potential solutions, according to Mr Nnaemeka Achebe, director of Shell Nigeria. It is also too easy to overestimate the role that Shell could play, he argues.

"People are asking us to publicly condemn the government and take actions that are essentially political," he explains. It is not a role that Shell is keen to adopt, in spite of damaging publicity to which the company has been exposed following the execution last November, by the ruling military regime, of writer Mr Ken Saro Wiwa and eight other Ogoni political activists.

Mr Saro Wiwa and the Movement for Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) had been campaigning since the 1980s for more autonomy for Ogoniland, a small tribal area in the heart of Nigeria's oil producing legion, the Niger Delta.

Shell is the major player in Nigeria's oil industry through its partnership with the state owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Their joint venture, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria is 55 per cent owned by the NNPC and 30 per cent by Shell. French oil company Agip owns 5 per cent while the Italian oil company Elf has 10 per cent. The consortium produces around 50 per cent of Nigeria's daily output of 1.8 million barrels of oil.

Shell has gone to great lengths to stay out of Nigeria's domestic politics over the almost 60 years it has been operating in the country. "We have been in Nigeria since 1938 and have worked under eleven Governments including the colonial administration," explains Mr Achebe, speaking in an interview with The Irish Times. Shell also expects to still be in Nigeria when the current regime hands over power to the civil authority, which is due to happen in two years time, he says. The oil industry makes long term investments and Shell's commitment is to the long term benefit of Nigeria and its people, believes Mr Achebe.

Mr Achebe denies that Shell is indifferent about what happens in Nigeria provided it does not interfere with its operations, as happened in 1993 when it had to withdraw from Ogoniland after local protests turned violent. The damage done to the local environment by oil production became a focus of for protests by MOSOP. The organisation led by Mr Saro Wiwa demanded a share in the taxes and royalties levied on Shell as well as compensation for environmental damage.

Their demands smacked of succession which has been a contentious issue in Nigeria since the civil war of the 1970s and the government quickly suppressed dissent. Mr Saro Wiwa was arrested and subsequently executed, along with eight others for the alleged murder of four pro government Ogoni leaders.

The root of the problem is one of the fundamental issues in Nigerian politics, the decentralisation of power, explains Mr Achebe. Nigeria has more than 230 ethnic groups of which three dominate the government. Mr Achebe belongs to one of these, the Ibo.

The Ogoni people's demands for more autonomy are fair, but the correct forum for their discussion is a commission established by the government to look at decentralisation, believes Mr Achebe. The Ogoni are using Shell as a lever, he believes.

And it is an effective one, as testified to by Mr Achebe's presence in Dublin this week to address the Dail Foreign Affairs Committee when it discussed the Nigerian situation.

Shell has not washed its hands of the political situation in Nigeria and it would not be ins its interest to do so, says Mr Achebe. "The welfare of the people of the Niger Delta affects our business. We quietly bring their problems to the attention of government."

"There are opportunities through private meetings to make points. We believe long term that these offer greater potential than public posturing".

Shell's attitude has to be judged in the context of the Nigerian political situation. "Secession is a word that gets people's backs up," he explains. Many of the members of the current ruling military elite fought in the bloody Biafran civil war in the 1960s to prevent succession by the oil rich provinces, he explains.

If Shell was to flex its muscles with the current regime to win concessions for the Ogoni, its interference in the affairs of state would almost certainly provoke a backlash from whatever regime eventually takes over, he explains.

Shell's commitment to the long term is a theme to which Mr Achebe constantly returns it is the explanation for the company's decision to go ahead with $4 billion liquid natural gas project days after the execution of Mr Saro Wiwa.

The project would have collapsed if Shell had delayed, explains Mr Achebe, who maintains that the people of Nigeria would have been the ultimate losers. Money set aside for the project by previous governments would have been returned to the current regime and the projector which has tangible economic and environmental benefits would have been mothballed he says. "Tie sequence of events that led up to the decision was unfortunate but we know deep in our hearts that it is in the long term interest of the country and the environment". Most Nigerians, excluding the supporters of Mr Saro Wiwa, would agree with him, believes Mr Achebe.