Nigeria oil: Shell ignored warnings of spill clean-up 'scam', whistleblower tells BBC

The oil giant faces allegations it ignored warnings that a clean-up scheme was beset by corruption.

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The multinational headquartered in London, along with the Nigerian government, has repeatedly stated that work to clean up oil-contaminated sites of Ogoniland, which kicked off around eight years ago, is going well.

But the BBC has discovered evidence that they were warned repeatedly over several years that the scheme, set up by the government and funded by various oil firms to the tune of $1bn (£805m), has been suffering from a string of issues.

One close observer has described the clean-up project as a "con" and a "scam" that has wasted money and left the people of Ogonliland, which lies in the Niger Delta, continuing to live with the devastating impact of oil pollution - 13 years after a ground-breaking UN report lifted the lid on the seriousness of their situation.

Shell's Nigerian subsidiary told the BBC: "The operating environment in the Niger Delta remains challenging because of the huge scale of illegal activities such as oil theft.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0rqe85q1jno

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