The BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico is now the biggest oil disaster in US history.
But beyond the media spotlight in Nigeria, environmentalists say as much as 550 million gallons of oil have poured into the Niger Delta River in the past 50 years and people who live there blame Shell for ruining their land and livelihoods.
The government has promised to tackle the problem but with 80 per cent of Nigeria's revenue's coming from oil and gas, will they be able to take a tough stance on big oil companies?
On Tuesday's show we are joined by: Oronto Douglas, currently an aide to Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian president, and a former lawyer on the defence team for the activist Ken Saro Wiwa, who was executed by Nigeria's military rulers in 1995; from Alaska Rick Steiner, a marine biologist; and from Strasbourg Geert Risema, a lawyer with Friends of the Earth International.
We will be discussing the environmental and human rights challenges facing the Niger Delta.
This episode of the Riz Khan show aired from Tuesday, July 6, 2010.
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