According to a leading human rights group, the Shell Corporation has been covering up catastrophic oil spills in the Niger Delta by blaming them on sabotage by local people. Amnesty International says those living there are suffering a "human rights tragedy" inflicted by decades of environmental damage caused in large part by Royal Dutch Shell.

Independent auditors estimate that up to 13 million barrels of oil have been spilled in the Delta, an amount equivalent to an Exxon Valdez disaster every year for 40 years. Nigeria's own watchdog reports that there are 2,000 current spills, the majority of them from Shell operations.