Two rights organisations have filed official complaints against Shell, accusing the Anglo-Dutch oil giant of using “discredited and misleading information” to divert blame for oil pollution in Nigeria.

Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth International on Tuesday lodged the complaint with the UK and Dutch government representatives at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The non-governmental organisations accuse Shell of breaching “basic standards for responsible business set out by the OECD for Multinational Enterprises.”

“Shell’s figures are totally lacking in credibility” said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International’s Director of Global Issues. “Widespread oil pollution is a key problem caused by oil industry in the Niger Delta, but the oil spill investigation system is totally lacking in independence.”

In their statement, the NGOs pointed out that “in the mid 1990s Shell accepted that much of the oil pollution in the Niger Delta was due to the company’s own failures. However, the company now blames sabotage by communities and criminals for most of the problem, citing misleading figures that purport to show as much as 98% of oil spills being caused by sabotage.”

The complaint comes one day ahead of a Dutch parliamentary hearing on corporate social responsibility in West Africa. Dutch MPs are expected to question environmental, human rights, and scientific research organisations, along with Shell representatives, on who should be held responsible for the extensive environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region.

The two NGOs further said that “in many cases oil companies have significant influence on determining the official cause of a spill.”

"We monitor spills regularly and our observations often contradict information produced by Shell. Several studies have placed the bulk of the blame for oil spills in the Niger Delta on the doorsteps of the oil companies; particularly Shell. It should take its responsibility and clean up the mess it made in our country,” said Nnimmo Bassey, director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA) and chair of Friends of the Earth International.

Earlier this month Sjoera Dikkers, Dutch parliamentarian from the opposition PVDA Labour Party, visited the Niger Delta region.

“I’m shocked at what I’ve seen in the Delta. The devastation caused by the oil spills is enormous. I’ve read about it and viewed some footage, but being there and standing in the crude oil myself made a huge impression on me,” Dikkers said. “I’ve travelled a lot throughout Africa but I’ve never seen this amount of devastation.”

Dikkers further said that “I’ve seen that Shell is by far not doing enough, and I’ve seen myself that the (Nigerian) government, to say the least, is not helping. They are only making things worse. Most people who bunker(tap) oil illegally get military protection, which is a sign that government officials are very much involved and making huge amounts of money out of it.”

Many remote communities in the Niger Delta, a vast network of mangrove creeks, remain impoverished despite five decades of oil extraction, which have left their land and water polluted.

Royalty payments from oil firms and the sharing of federal oil revenues mean state governments in the Niger Delta have larger budgets than many West African nations, but endemic corruption has meant that little development has been achieved.