Extracts from a Heather Murdock article published on 17 March 2014 by Voice of America
Local leaders in the Niger Delta want to unite competing communities to pressure Shell Petroleum to pay billions of dollars in reparations and clean up of fishing areas they say were wasted in a 2011 oil spill. Shell disputes the claim, maintaining the spill never hit Nigerian shores or damaged the fishing industry. Early this year the Nigerian government said it was fining Shell $11.5 billion for the Bonga spill. Shell says it has never paid any fines because it is not liable, “legally or otherwise.” Protesters on the beach say the issue is simpler than that. They want the company to pay up or get out.