The issue was highlighted by the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed in 1995 by Nigeria's military government, sparking international condemnation.

BBC: Nigeria Ogoniland oil clean-up 'could take 30 years'

Mr Saro-Wiwa had led a successful campaign against Shell's activities in his homeland, even forcing the company to quit Ogoniland in 1993.

ECONOMIST: A payout could encourage others

When a prominent writer and activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight others were hanged in 1995, western governments imposed limited sanctions and cold-shouldered Nigeria.

ECONOMIST: Nigeria does it again

Since the executed men were buried in a communal grave, any attempt to identify the body of Ken Saro-Wiwa will necessitate exhuming all nine bodies.

BBC: Dispute over Ogoni activists' reburial

Noo is the daughter of the executed activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, and she makes an entertaining, thoughtful, often disappointed guide around a country she left as a child.

BBC: Africa on the bookshelf��

Plans for the reburial of the executed Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and his fellow activists have sparked a dispute between the Wiwa family and the organisation which he represented.

BBC: Dispute over Ogoni activists' reburial

Local anger was most famously mobilised in the Ogoni area by opposition politician Ken Saro-Wiwa, but in all parts of the Delta protesters have blocked access roads, occupied production platforms and-on occasion-sabotaged pipelines.

BBC: Oil wealth: An unequal bounty

But Ms Saro-Wiwa is careful to avoid caricature.

ECONOMIST: Ken Saro-Wiwa��s daughter goes home