Niger Delta Women Drag Shell, Agip, IOCs before Environmental Tribunal
... as 80 Women test Positive to Benzene in Otuabagi Community By Kelechi Nwaucha Women from communities in the Niger Delta have dragged international oil companies, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Total E&P and Agip Oil Company, before an Environmental Tribunal, sitting in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, accusing the multinationals of gross environmental degradation and destruction of their ecosystem. This was as report indicate "serious cases of benzene accumulation" among women living in Otuabagi, the first oil-bearing community in Nigeria, with 80 of those sampled testing positive to the existence of the carcinogen in their blood. Laying their complaints before a 'Mock Environmental Tribunal,' organised by Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, with support from WoMin African Alliance, Niger Delta women from Okwuzi, Eleme, Rumuekpe (in Rivers State) and Otuabagi (in Ogbia, Bayelsa State) presented a long list of woe...