Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons.

) in E-Commerce
IN COLLABORATION WITH IUKL

TITLE OF ASSIGNMENT:
Individual Assignment: Ethical Issues Impacting the Global
Environment – Environment Pollution –
Shell in Nigeria’s Unethical Practice Handles the Environment
Pollution

Course Title:
Business Ethics
(BUSS 2421)

Prepared By:
Justin Jelan Anak Jack
(2019311830)
 Prepared For:
Madam Diana Hii Ing Ling

1.0 Introduction

Ethics means is the find out about of what is right and wrong in human
conduct. Environmental ethics research the effects of human’s ethical relationships on
the environment and the whole lot inside it (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy,
2008). The ethical principles that govern those relations determine human duties,
obligations, and duties with regard to the Earth’s natural surroundings and all of the
animals and plants that inhabit it (Taylor, 1989). The motive of this report is to
discuss about environment pollution in the issue impacting the global environment.

In this report based on article’s issue about “A journey through the oil spills
of Ogoniland”. The article’s issue stated that Shell is one of the victims to be blamed
in this issue. Shell is one the international oil companies operating in Nigeria, says
that oil spills due to crude oil theft, illegal refining and sabotage cause the most
environmental damage in the Niger Delta. The company says its efforts to clean up
areas have at times been hampered by instability, as its employees are unable to safely
access affected areas. Under the 2015 UK settlement, Shell is responsible for cleaning
up this area. But Shell sought a court order to prevent community members from
reviving the litigation if the clean-up is not carried out satisfactorily. Shell's attempt to
silence the community were shut down in the UK courts in 2018.

The truth is no real action has been taken by Shell company to clean up the
delta, and oil spills are still happening. Half of them are caused by pipeline and tanker
accidents, while other causes include sabotage (28%) and oil production operations
(21%), with 1% of the spills being accounted for by inadequate production equipment.
This result will bring that pollution is placing communities at heightened risk of
kidney damage, as well as diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and
Parkinson’s according to the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission.
2.0 Four Step Ethical Decision-making Framework

2.1 Step 1: Recognize an Ethical Problem

The ethical problem found out in this issue is Shell was causing the
high levels of pollution in Nigeria.40% of shells oil spills worldwide was in
Nigeria. The oil spill also caused water contamination. It caused oil pollution
in the Ogoniland region for the past 40 years or so. The pipelines were built in
front of the people’s houses and in their farmlands. They suffered oil leaks
through the pipelines. This has totally destroyed the environment over there. It
killed the aquatic life; killing many fishes. Also enveloped the land with oil.
This has been really devastating for the Ogoni people, economically and
healthy, since their economy depends mainly on fishing and farming. People
suffered respiratory diseases such as bronchial asthma; and cancer. Lots of
vegetation is dying, especially Mangrove swamps, due to wastes of oil in the
Niger River. The reason Shell has been successful in doing these unethical
practices in Nigeria is because they used to bribe the Nigerian officials
frequently to ease the process.

The parent company, Royal Dutch Shell, denies responsibility for the
pollution of its subsidiary, Shell Nigeria, and is challenging the jurisdiction of
the Dutch court over its actions abroad (Chima Williams,2009). It also blames
oil spills on sabotage to its equipment. It seems that if Shell had its way, no
court would have jurisdiction over any violations of human rights and
environmental law. In 2005, the federal high court of Nigeria declared Shell's
gas flaring to be a violation of human rights and ordered the company to stop
the illegal practice. Shell has still not complied with this court order. With
little or no legal remedy in Nigeria, villagers from the Niger Delta have
decided to bring their case to The Hague to hold the company headquarters to
account.  This explains how rude and unethically they take responsibility for
their awful actions.

Shell in Nigeria have made successful profits and enriched a

succession of Nigerian regimes, but pollution is driving local people into
poverty. Until Shell takes responsibility for it can expect legal actions like this
one to expose ugly truths about their polluting practices. Shell must bear the
 cost of its environmental devastation. The alternative is daily injustice on a
massive scale.

2.2 Step 2: Get the Facts

Shell Nigeria is one of the largest oil producers in the Royal

Dutch/Shell Group. 80% of the oil extraction in Nigeria is the Niger Delta, the
southeast region of the country The Delta is home to many small minority
ethnic groups, including the Ogoni, all of which suffer egregious exploitation
by multinational oil companies, like Shell. Shell provides over 50% of the
income keeping the Nigerian dictatorship in power. (Nnadozie, Oil and
Socioeconomic Crisis in Nigeria, 1997

The Nigerian government has failed to fix oil multinationals to adhere

to local environmental protection regulations. This is not surprising since the
government benefits from oil revenue, the mainstay of the Nigerian economy.
But the damage to the natural environment has exposed the region's people to
poverty. The high rate of poverty in the Niger Delta in contrast to the
enormous oil wealth has been clearly depicted in the 2015 United Nations'
Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index. Oil-related activities have also damaged
sources of clean water. This has fuelled conflict over the limited available
resources. (AllAfrica, 2019)

Uncontrolled spills have been a prominent feature of Nigeria’s oil

industry – the nation’s primary source of GDP – since crude was discovered
there more than 60 years ago. An estimated 240,000 barrels of crude oil are
spilled in the Niger Delta every year, polluting waterways, contaminating
crops, and releasing toxic chemicals into the air. A 2011 report by the UN
Environment Programme estimated that, after decades of repeated oil spills in
Ogoniland, it would take 30 years to reverse damage to public health and the
regional ecosystem. (The Guardian, 2019)
2.3 Step 3: Evaluate Alternative Courses of Action

The best way to solve the issue is to have a strong support from
Shell Companies in Nigeria to be involved in solution to reduce the number of
oil spilt in Niger Delta. Firstly, they have to raise awareness among
community in Nigeria. Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria
(SPDC) has implemented several initiatives and partnerships to raise
awareness of the negative impact of crude oil theft and illegal oil refining.
Examples include community-based pipeline surveillance, radio jingles and
the promotion of alternative livelihoods through Shell’s youth
entrepreneurship programme, Shell Livewire. (SPDC JV, 2019)

Another solution is be cooperate with local organization to minimize

the issue. In this case, SPDC works with a range of stakeholders in the Niger
Delta to build greater trust in spill response and clean-up processes. Local
communities take part in the remediation work for operational spills. In certain
instances, some non-governmental organisations have also participated in joint
investigation visits along with government regulators, SPDC and members of
impacted communities to establish the cause and volume of oil spilled.

Next, is to have support with local government to clean up oil spilt in

Nigeria. According to report, The UNEP report recommended the creation of
an Ogoni Trust Fund with $1 billion capital to be co-funded by the Nigerian
government, the SPDC JV and other operators in the area. The SPDC JV
remains fully committed to contributing its share of $900 million over five
years to the fund by the federal government to lead the clean-up effort. (SPDC
JV, 2019)

Lastly, Nigeria authority has right responsibility to sue under lawsuit

against company cause the pollution. In 2012, members of the Bodo
community in Nigeria filed a lawsuit against Shell in London High Court.
They seek compensation for two oil spills and losses suffered to their health,
livelihoods, and land. They also request clean-up of the oil pollution. In 2015,
Shell accepted responsibility for the spill and agreed to a £55 million out of
court settlement and to assist in clean-up. (Business & Human Rights
Resources Centre, 2019)
2.4 Step 4: Implement and Evaluate Your Decision

The effort of implementation has significantly reduced operational

spills over 100 kilograms to seven incidents and 28 tonnes of crude in 2019,
compared to 15 incidents and 413 tonnes in 2018. This represents a year-on-
year reduction of more than 90% by volume, returning the joint venture to its
trend of reducing operational spills. (SPDC Report, 2019)

Community engagement and the ongoing commitment from

government agencies has also helped shorten response times to incidents.
SPDC’s average 8 time to complete the clean-up of free and/or residual spilled
oil has halved from 13 days in 2016 to seven days in 2019. Closer engagement
with communities has helped SPDC to access spill locations more quickly,
meaning on average that joint investigations now commence within three days
in 2019 compared to six days in 2016. (SPDC Report, 2019)

SPDC works with a range of stakeholders in the Niger Delta to build

greater trust in spill response and clean-up processes. Local communities take
part in the remediation work for operational spills. In certain instances, some
non-governmental organisations have also participated in joint investigation
visits along with government regulators, SPDC and members of impacted
communities to establish the cause and volume of oil spilled. (SPDC Report,
2019)

The challenge of preventing spills relating to sabotage and theft by

third parties remains. These illegal activities accounted for 95% of the SPDC
JV spill incidents in 2019, a similar proportion to previous years. This is due
to factors such as increased availability of production facilities, crude theft
activities in an election year, and the price of crude oil and refined products
that is seen as an opportunity for illegal refining. Despite preventive efforts,
spilled volumes from illegal activities increased to around 2,000 tonnes of
crude in 2019, compared with around 1,600 tonnes in 2018. (SPDC Report,
2019)
3.0 Conclusion
In conclusion, Shell company in Nigeria is one of factor causing environment
pollution such as water, air, and land pollution. All of these caused by unethical
business practice and it is not expected from large company such as Shell to practice
such actions. Shell should have a responsibility to solve the environment pollution in
Niger Delta. By doing this they might earn less profit in the short term but they can be
proud of themselves by being an ethical company and gaining more profit than their
competitors in the long term.  Shell Should be accountable for what they did and be
responsible for their unethical behaviour and try to stop such acts in future if they
want to build their reputation again as people and stakeholders won’t trust Shell as
long as they continue being unethical. However, if Shell really wants to be changed
and get back its reputation, they can do it by clarifying their vision among themselves
and act ethically.

Total numbers words: 1 792 words

5.0 References

1. ‘A journey through the oil spills of Ogoniland’. Amelia Collins (2019, 17 May)
Retrieved from https://www.foei.org/news/oil-spills-ogoniland-nigeria-shell
2. 'Absolutely Shocking': Niger Delta Oil Spills Linked with Infant Deaths. Kate Hodal
(2017, November 6). Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/2017/nov/06/niger-delta-oil-spills-linked-infant-deaths
3. Major New Inquiry Into Oil Spills in Nigeria's Niger Delta Launched
Bukola Adebayo (2019, March 27). Retrieved from
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/26/africa/nigeria-oil-spill-inquiry-intl/index.html
4. What's Causing Nigeria's Oil Spills? (2013, November 11). Retrieved from
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2013/1111/What-s-causing-
Nigeria-s-oil-spills
5. 'This Place Used to Be Green': the Brutal Impact Of Oil in the Niger Delta
Rebecca Ratcliffe (2019, December 6). Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/06/this-place-used-to-be-
green-the-brutal-impact-of-oil-in-the-niger-delta
6. SPILLS RESPONSE AND PREVENTION IN THE NIGER DELTA. (2020,
February 12). Retrieved from https://www.shell.com.ng/media/nigeria-reports-and-
publications-briefing-notes/spill-response-prevention-in-niger-delta.html
7.  "Oil Spill: IOCs Exploiting Communities, Exploring Laws". aljazirahnews. 2019-05-
21. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
8.  "Nigeria Launches $1 Billion Ogoniland Clean-up and Restoration Programme". UN
Environment. Retrieved 2019-04-04.
9. Nigeria: How Oil and Water Create a Complex Conflict in the Niger Delta. Abosede
Babatunde (2020, April 21) Retrieved from
https://allafrica.com/stories/202004230070.html
10. ‘Shell must clean up its act in Nigeria’ Chima Williams. (2019, 4 December).
Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cif-
green/2009/dec/04/shell-nigeria-oil-spills
11. ‘SPILLS RESPONSE AND PREVENTION IN THE NIGER DELTA’. SPDC JV
(2019). Retrieved from https://www.shell.com.ng/media/nigeria-reports-and-
publications-briefing-notes/spill-response-prevention-in-niger-delta.html
6.0 Appendices

Photo 1: The chosen article as part of the report from https://www.foei.org/news/oil-spills-

ogoniland-nigeria-shell