by Essential Action and Global Exchange

About the authors: Essential Action is a project of Essential Information, an organization founded in 1982 by former presidential candidate Ralph Nader. Essential Action provides the public with information that it believes is ignored by the mainstream media and politicians. Global Exchange is a liberal research center promoting global awareness.

There is a long and terrible record of environmental destruction and human rights violations in the oil-producing regions of Nigeria. The gross level of environmental degradation caused by oil exploration and extraction in the Niger Delta has gone unchecked for the past 30 years. Evidence shows that the oil companies operating in Nigeria have not only disregarded their responsibility towards the environment but have acted in complicity with the military’s repression of Nigerian citizens. The profit-driven collusion between multinational oil companies and...