Read the Initial Statement published by the NCP 3 June 2021: English
Read the Final Statement published by the NCP February 2023: English
Read the Follow-up Statement published by the NCP 23 January 2025: English
On 16 May 2019, the Aminigboko Community in Nigeria submitted a specific instance to the Dutch NCP alleging that The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and Shell Headquarters did not observe the Concepts and Principles (Chapter I), General Policies (Chapter II), Disclosure (Chapter III), Human Rights (Chapter VI), Employment and Industrial Relations (Chapter V), Environment (Chapter VI), and Combating Bribery, Bribe Solicitations and Extortion (Chapter VII) provisions of the Guidelines. Specifically, the issues related to a project executed by SPDC on Aminigboko Community land which established parallel leadership structures within the Community, oil spill damage, and forceful entry onto the land.
On 3 June 2021 the specific instance was accepted for further examination. The NCP offered its good offices and mediation to those involved. SPDC declined the offer of mediation and the NCP continued to examine the specific instance and issue recommendations.
Based on the detailed information provided by the notifying party and the lack of meaningful response by the enterprise on questions posed by the NCP in the examination phase, the NCP determined that the enterprise had failed to demonstrate that it acted in line with the Guidelines. The Dutch NCP provided recommendations to the enterprise. Notably, to align its conduct with the issues raised, cooperate in good faith in remediation mechanisms, use its leverage where possible to ensure the participation of its business relations in relevant remediation mechanisms, and disengagement from such relations in such cases where leverage is not sufficient to align practices with the Guidelines, and to increase its meaningful stakeholder engagement.
The specific instance was concluded without agreement between parties. On 23 January 2025, the NCP published a follow-up statement, reporting that no progress had been made by the company regarding the NCP’s recommendations in relation to the specific instance.