Shell Nigeria is one of the largest oil producers in the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. 80% of the oil extraction in Nigeria is the the Niger Delta, the southeast region of the country. The Delta is home to many small minority ethnic groups, including the Ogoni, all of which suffer egregious exploitation by multinational oil companies, like Shell. Shell provides over 50% of the income keeping the Nigerian dictatorship in power. In 2000 oil and gas exports accounted for more than 98 % of export earnings and about 83 % of federal government revenue. New oil wealth and the concurrent decline of other sectors, fuelled massive migration to the cities and led to increasingly widespread poverty, especially in rural areas.

The Nigerian government hanged 9 environmental activists in 1995 for speaking out against exploitation by Royal Dutch/Shell and the Nigeria government. The most prominent activist was Ken Saro -Wiwa and in 2009 Shell settled the case with a US$15.5 million “humanitarian gesture”. The settlement came days before the start of a trial in New York that was expected to reveal extensive details of Shell's activities in the Niger Delta.

There is currently a joint effort by the government and Shell to suppress a growing movement among the Ogoni people towards, environmental justice, recognition of their human rights and economic justice (in the form of wages and equal opportunities). Additionally, Shell has brought extreme, irreparable environmental devastation to Ogoniland. Shell has also been criticised for attempting to divide communities using bribes and military force.
Although oil from Ogoniland has provided approximately $30 billion to the economy of Nigeria, the people of Ogoni see little of their contribution. Shell has done little to give back to the Ogoni people. In 1996, Shell employed only 88 Ogoni (0.0002% of the Ogoni population, and only 2% of Shell's employees in Nigeria). This highlights the inequality experienced by the Ogoni people within their own nation state. According to Amnesty International 70% of the six million people in the Niger River Delta live off of less than 1$ US per day. The majority of Ogoni villages have no clean water, little electricity, few telephones, abysmal health care, and no jobs for displaced farmers and fishers. This lack of access has furthered the strain placed upon the Ogoni people at the hands of Shell. In addition there is a belief that due to the unstable infrastructure and the government corruption that Nigeria faces chronic underdevelopment.
An investigation and report by Essential Action and Global Exchange in 2005 also highlighted that the presence of multinational oil companies, specifically shell, has had a hugely adverse affect on the local economy on society, including but not limited to, the loss of property, price inflation (18.7 % in August 2001), prostitution and irresponsible fathering by expatriate oil workers.
In July 2011, A three-day national strike began in Nigeria as workers across numerous sectors walked out in protest at the government’s failure to implement minimum wage legislation within the oil and gas industry. The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (Nupeng) alleged that the Anglo-Dutch multinational had sold off some oil blocks without following due process, and promised “a total war against those who mismanaged our national economy”.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/03/shell-oil-paid-nigerian-military