"Borderline" by Tame Impala
I like to think of myself as a moral person who supports human rights and nation capacity building, so it was honestly scary how easy it was for me to defend Shell in our simulation. We all know that Shell does pretty self-serving and sketchy things in Nigeria, to say the least, but when I took on the role of Senior Legal Counsel, I created the narrative that Shell was a beacon of hope in Nigeria that provided social mobility and a reliable source of government revenue. I preemptively created arguments for how Shell was not the corrupting factor in Nigeria, but rather government officials were when they transfer money out of the central government account and into their own pockets. After all, Shell can’t be held responsible for what happens to the money after we pay the government. Oh my, look at that. I referred to Shell as “we”. It’s crazy how easily I took on the role and defended Shell.It got so bad that I started researching how other companies handled bad PR and modeled my arguments after theirs. For example, BP responded to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill by pointing the finger at the makers and contractors that built the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and stated that they lied about the safety and quality standards. So, I blamed all Shell oil spills on guerrilla forces. So, Shell faces regular attacks by militants who have targeted pipelines, kidnapped workers and fought government troops. In fact, Shell’s paramilitary is constantly fighting against these guerrilla forces who wants to steal economic growth from Nigeria’s communities and take destroy oil infrastructure that can ultimately lead to these oil spills and pike breaks. Regardless, Shell always cleans up after any oil spill—even ones caused by third parties. See, Shell’s not the problem. I can also shift the blame to other companies that operate in Nigeria. The current litigation out of Nigeria is against JP Morgan and how they allowed 1.1 billion of a 1.3 billion dollar payment from Shell to be transferred to a special Nigerian government account at JPMorgan in London. So, it seems that Nigeria knows who’s responsible for its corruption, and it’s not Shell. And, if Shell ever did anything wrong, I had arguments for how Shell is an accountable and responsible company that pays its dues when necessary by looking at the settlements for past lawsuits. I learned that every single piece of evidence could be twisted to fit any argument that people want to make which is scary.
Power gets to people, bro. As my group was planning for the simulation the saying “Shell is Nigeria, and Nigeria is Shell” became a joke that was tossed around. We never worried about the outcome of the simulation because we knew that if any other group wanted anything to happen in Nigeria, they would have to work with us.
https://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/04/20/bp-sues-cameron-over-failed-blowout-preventer/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2010/may/05/shell-oil-spill-niger-delta
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