World Bank funnelling money to Shell in Nigeria

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2001

World Bank Plans to Fund 'Risky' Project Involving Shell in Nigeria

For further information, contact: Daphne Wysham, Institute for Policy
Studies, 202-234-9382, x208 or 209
 Or Carol Welch, Friends of the Earth, 202-783-7400, 237

The Institute for Policy Studies and Friends of the Earth today
denounced the World Bank's plans to approve a $15 million loan to a
financial intermediary that would provide subcontracting services to
Shell Oil Corporation in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.  The loan, which
would be provided by the World Bank's private sector lending arm, the
International Finance Corporation (IFC), would provide hard currency to
banks in the Niger Delta who could then onlend to subcontractors
providing services to the Shell Oil Corporation. It is set to be
approved next week. Internal IFC documents leaked to IPS and FoE reveal
that the IFC recognizes this association with Shell represents a
"reputational risk" to the World Bank.

"This loan sets an alarming precedent for a number of reasons," said
Daphne Wysham, an energy policy analyst with the Institute for Policy
Studies.  "It is being prepared without any accountability to World Bank
policies; and it will provide support to one of the wealthiest and most
controversial corporations on the planet in a region where human rights
abuses continue to be commonplace."

"Rather than alleviating poverty among the people of the Delta, this
project will simply continue the pattern of environmental devastation,
corruption, human rights abuse and corporate subsidies that have plagued
the region for decades," Wysham continued.

"This loan is an endrun around vital environmental and human rights
protections," said Carol Welch, deputy director for international
programs with Friends of the Earth. "This debacle reveals why we need
serious scrutiny of all World Bank oil, gas and mining projects."

Shell has been the target of consumer boycotts, human rights and
environmental campaigns since 1993. Mass protests by the Ogoni people of
the Niger Delta against environmental devastation and human rights
abuses by Shell and the Nigerian government forced the transnational oil
company to cease operations in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta.
The most famous spokesperson for the Ogoni people, the writer and
activist Ken Saro Wiwa, was hanged together with eight other Ogoni men,
by the Nigerian government in 1995, after speaking out against Shell's
devastation of his homeland. Shell Oil made no attempt to intervene or
denounce Saro Wiwa's hanging.  Although Shell has abandoned Ogoniland,
oil wells and flow-lines in Ogoniland continue to spew crude oil. The
people of Ogoni, largely fishermen and farmers, have seen their
livelihoods destroyed by the constant oil spills.  The most recent Shell
spill occurred on May 9, 2001, in Ogoniland. The CIA recently revealed
that years of oil spills in the Niger Delta, which have yet to be
cleaned up, amount to the equivalent of 10 times the Alaskan Exxon
Valdez oil spill.

Nonetheless, the IFC plans to approve the loan via a streamlined process
wherein the project would not require an environmental impact
assessment, World Bank board approval, or adherence to any World Bank
policies or guidelines. This is because the loan provides funding to a
financial intermediary and, therefore, according to IFC policies, does
not require it to follow IFC guidelines or policies.

The World Bank plans to launch a review of their oil, gas and mining
sectors this fall. It is not clear whether projects such as this loan to
a financial intermediary for an oil company would be part of the review
process.

For copies of the leaked IFC documents, visit: < http://www.seen.org
<http://www.seen.org> >
For the latest news on the Niger Delta, visit: <
http://www.seen.org/nignews.html <http://www.seen.org/nignews.html> >
For information about Shell, visit: <
http://www.essentialaction.org/shell/issues.html#Why
<http://www.essentialaction.org/shell/issues.html#Why>  boycott>
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