Nigeria

By Audrey Gaughran, Director of Global Thematic Issues at Amnesty International

There are currently two competing narratives about oil pollution in the Niger Delta.

The first is that oil companies, particularly Shell, are responsible for massive pollution caused by leaks from their operations and for the failure to clean up spills and protect their infrastructure from damage.

This narrative acknowledges that oil theft and sabotage of oil infrastructure occur and contribute to pollution; however it cautions that theft and sabotage, as causes of pollution, are over-stated by oil companies in a bid to deflect criticism about their environmental impact.

The second narrative claims that almost all spills are caused by oil theft and sabotage and that companies are doing their best to combat this scourge. It goes on to say that the failure to clean up properly is generally due to the communities not letting the oil companies into the area to do the cleanup.

New evidence from satellite images reveals the true extent of a forced eviction in Badia East, Lagos – one of Africa’s two megacities. The pictures, taken before and after demolitions carried out by the Lagos state government on 23 February 2013, clearly show that a densely populated area containing concrete houses and other structures was razed to the ground.

It is estimated that close to 9,000 residents of Badia East lost their homes or livelihoods. However senior officials in the Lagos state government had claimed that the area was a rubbish dump.

“The effects of February’s forced eviction have been devastating for the Badia East community where dozens are still sleeping out in the open or under a nearby bridge exposed to rain, mosquitos and at risk of physical attack,” said Oluwatosin Popoola, Amnesty International’s Nigeria researcher.

A new report by Amnesty International and the Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) looks at the impact of the demolitions and documents the failings of the Lagos state government

The Nigerian government must act to prevent attacks on schools to protect children’s lives and their right to education said Amnesty International after 30 people were reportedly killed in an attack on a boarding school by an armed Islamist group on Saturday.

Secondary schools have been ordered to close across Nigeria’s north-eastern state of Yobe following the pre-dawn attack on Government Secondary School in Mamudo, near Potiskum, in which 29 students and one teacher were killed and buildings set alight.

“The protection of children’s lives is paramount, and the Nigerian government has a duty to ensure that the country’s educational sector is not further threatened by the killing and intimidation of students and teachers and the destruction of school buildings,” said Lucy Freeman, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Africa.

It is not yet known who is responsible for the attack although the group Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for several attacks on schools in the past.

A death row prisoner in Nigeria is due to be executed by firing squad later this week after prison authorities dragged him to the gallows where they hanged four other men on Monday night, Amnesty International has learned.

They were the first known executions in the country since 2006.

Benin Prison authorities in Edo state had planned to hang the man along with the four others, but halted his execution after they realized his death sentence, imposed by a military tribunal, required that a firing squad carry it out.

Amnesty International understands that neither the prisoners nor their families were told of the executions in advance. Secret executions, where prisoners, families and lawyers are not informed beforehand, violate international standards on the use of the death penalty.

“Cruel and inhumane do not even begin to describe the nightmare situation facing this man – and it points to the spectacularly brutal nature of Nigeria’s sudden return to state-sponsored killing,” said Lucy Freeman, deputy Africa director at Amnesty International.

The Nigerian authorities must spare the lives of five death row inmates at imminent risk of execution, Amnesty International urged after a court in the southern state of Edo allowed the execution by hanging of three men to proceed and the Governor of Edo state signed the execution warrants of two others.

The Federal High Court in Benin City today rejected a lawsuit filed by local NGOs against three execution warrants signed by the Governor of Edo State in October 2012. Two other death row inmates – whose execution warrants were reportedly signed by the Governor in May 2013 – are also at imminent risk of execution.

It is unclear when the authorities at the state’s Benin Prison plan to carry out the killings, but two executioners were reportedly called in on Monday morning and security around the prison is tight.

“Today’s court decision is a major set back for justice and human rights in Nigeria,”said Lucy Freeman, deputy director for Africa at Amnesty International.

“The Nigerian authorities must immediately halt the execution of these five men and allow them to appeal their cases in the courts.”

President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria  should not sign into law a draconian new bill that would formalize discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and have wide-ranging effects on civil liberties in the country, 10 Nigerian and international human rights groups said today. 

On May 30, 2013, Nigeria’s House of Representatives passed the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill, which would impose a prison sentence of up to 14 years for anyone found guilty of engaging in same-sex relationships. The Senate had already passed a similar bill.

If signed into law, the bill would also criminalize freedom of speech, association, and assembly.

“The bill is a throwback to past decades under military rule when these civil rights were treated with contempt,” said Lucy Freeman, deputy director of the Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

The Lagos State government of Nigeria must immediately stop the forced eviction of residents of Oke Ilu-Eri area of Badia East in Lagos, Amnesty International said today.

According to information received by Amnesty International, on Saturday 23 February 2013, at approximately 9am, bulldozers entered the community of Oke Ilu-Eri and began demolishing houses.

According to the Nigerian NGO, Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC), which has been working with leaders of the community since Wednesday to try to prevent the demolition, at least 300 houses have been demolished so far with hundreds of people displaced. SERAC said about 200 heavily armed police officers supervised the demolition and several residents who tried to resist the demolition were beaten up by the police.

No adequate notice was given to the residents of the community before the demolition commenced. According to information received by Amnesty International, on Wednesday 20 February a notice of eviction was given to the Baale (Yoruba word for traditional district head) of the community – just three days before the demolition started.