NIGERIAN President Olusegun Obasanjo wants the international community to ward off a major environmental threat caused by the oil industry in his country. The Norwegian news agency NTB reported that Obasanjo appealed for help to prevent an “enormous” environmental catastrophe, when he addressed 1500 delegates from 40 countries at an oil production safety conference in the southwestern Norwegian city of Stavanger. After decades of oil spills, Obasanjo has been seeking stricter environmental regulations for oil companies operating in Nigeria. On Monday, a Nigerian court ordered the Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch Shell to pay 40 million dollars in compensation for an oil spill that happened 30 years ago in Ogoniland, southeast Nigeria. Nigeria is currently the world’s sixth-largest oil exporter, and Africa’s largest producer, exporting some 2.03 million barrels per day. Obasanjo is due to leave Norway Thursday for Switzerland.
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