Oil Firms Accused in Nigerian Abuses

Human rights activists Tuesday accused multinational oil companies of complicity in human rights abuses carried out by this country’s military regime in the oil-rich Niger Delta, charging that the firms have made no effort to condemn or intervene in the atrocities.

A report issued by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch placed responsibility for abuses committed in the tumultuous region equally with the government of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and the oil firms.

Communities in the delta, which are made up mostly of ethnic minorities, have reaped little benefit from the billions of dollars’ worth of oil produced from their land since the 1950s. In recent weeks, local anger at the foreign companies has swelled into protests, sabotage and hostage-taking of oil workers, leading to a government crackdown.

“Oil companies legitimately require security for their personnel and property,” the report said. “But the companies cannot shirk their responsibility to do something about human rights abuses that are being committed on their behalf and in their interest.”

The human rights watchdog urged the oil companies to screen security staff assigned to protect their property, to investigate and publicize violent incidents and to publicly and privately call on the Nigerian authorities to ensure that such incidents do not reoccur.

International companies working in the Niger Delta, where most of Nigeria’s oil is pumped, include U.S.-based Chevron Corp. and Mobil Corp., the Dutch-British Royal Dutch/Shell Corp., Italy’s Agip and France’s Elf Aquitaine.

They operate joint ventures with the Nigerian government--in which the state owns majority shares--pumping more than 2 million barrels of oil a day.

Spokesmen for Chevron in San Francisco and Mobil in Fairfax, Va., denied any complicity in abuses in Nigeria, contending that the companies are good corporate citizens that provide jobs and invest in community improvements and programs.

Nigerians in the delta, however, complain about massive environmental degradation.

“Multinationals have destroyed our basis of survival,” said Doifie Ola, an environmental activist from a delta minority group. “Our people depend on the environment to survive. The oil companies have polluted the rivers and spoiled the lands.”

After initially trying to take a softer line against the burgeoning delta protests, the military government ordered troops into the region in January to protect its oil operations. The Human Rights Watch report said the Nigerian security forces responded to the situation with excessive force--beating, detaining and sometimes killing people involved in the protests.

Human Rights Watch singled out Chevron for one “particularly serious incident.” On Jan. 4, soldiers using a helicopter and boats that Human Rights Watch claims belonged to Chevron attacked two villages in the delta, killing at least four people.

Chevron owns no helicopters or boats in Nigeria, company spokesman Fred Gorell said Tuesday. That equipment is owned by a joint venture with the Nigerian government in which Chevron is the minority partner, he said. Chevron is not consulted about the use of such equipment, he added.

“The bottom line of it all is Chevron has not been involved or connected to any internal police activities in Nigeria,” Gorell said.

The 200-page rights report, released four days before an election in which Nigerians will choose their first civilian president in 15 years, serves as a reminder of critical issues that will confront the winner of Saturday’s poll, including the questions of federalism and autonomy for the states, allocation of resources and how to solve regional and ethnic differences.

The instability in the delta is compounded by friction between longtime ethnic rivals, whose quest for political dominance, land and control of the area’s oil has left scores dead.

“The whole delta is in crisis, and it has the potential to bring Nigeria down,” said Bronwen Manby, author of the rights report. “I don’t think the incoming politicians have any understanding or knowledge of the issue.”

The two candidates vying for the nation’s top job are Olusegun Obasanjo, a retired army general and a military ruler of Nigeria in the 1970s, and Olu Falae, a onetime finance minister. Activists in the region say they have little confidence that either man’s administration would have sympathy for the delta residents’ cause because many of the veteran politicians who fill the ranks of the recently elected two-chamber parliament have made easy money from oil.

It is unclear how many people will vote Saturday, but some local poll observers said they detected massive manipulation and rigging in recent state and local elections in the delta.

“There are no meaningful elections in the delta,” Manby said. “There is widespread [vote] buying and intimidation.”

Abubakar came to power in June with the death of military dictator Gen. Sani Abacha, setting in motion a democracy transition program. He freed scores of prisoners and significantly relaxed state repression, but activists say there has been little improvement in delta life.

Abubakar has promised to inaugurate a development program for the region before he hands over power to the civilian regime May 29. The program will include building roads and canals and providing potable water, electricity, and health and educational facilities.

Minority groups say this is not enough. They are calling for an administrative restructuring of the country that would allow them to determine how best to use profits from the black gold under their land.

“We want total control of our resources,” said Ola, the environmentalist. “We are making a demand for a return to true federalism. We want to share [our land’s wealth].”

Times staff writer Nancy Rivera Brooks in Los Angeles contributed to this report.