“There is no justification for the carnage that is going on in Gaza… the complete disregard for the proportionality of force that is being meted out on innocent civilians. This carnage is completely out of hand and totally unacceptable. There is no way to explain the double standards; it has to stop,” Nigeria’s foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, said in March, reacting to Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
In his address at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September, Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima was equally critical of Israel, warning, “Justice is antithetical to revenge… Freedom is an inalienable right and a natural entitlement that cannot be denied to any person. The Palestinian people deserve their independence.”
The Nigerian government has consistently condemned Israel’s military occupation of Palestine and has been particularly outspoken against Israel since October 7. Historically, Nigeria has been a strong supporter of the Palestinian struggle for liberation, and Nigeria was central in efforts to ensure that Israel was not granted observer status at the African Union (AU). According to sources who were at the October 2021 meeting of the AU executive council attended by Africa’s foreign ministers in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Nigeria’s then Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama took the lead in objecting to Israel’s accreditation and urged other member states to do the same.
While the Nigerian government has strongly condemned Israel’s military onslaught on Gaza, it also stands accused of fuelling the Israeli war machine that had already killed, at the time of writing, more than 40,000 Palestinians through direct violence and bombing.
Behind the barrel: Nigerian crude fuelling genocide?
According to a recently released report titled “Behind the Barrel: New Insights into the Countries and Companies Behind Israel’s Fuel Supply,” Nigeria accounts for 9 percent of the total crude oil supplied to Israel between October 21, 2023, and July 12, 2024. Researchers analysed satellite imagery, ship positions, shipping logs, commodity trade flows, information from port authorities, and financial and media reports to track 65 oil and fuel shipments to Israel in that period.
Over 133 kilotons of Nigerian crude were delivered to Israel from Chevron, Eni, Exxon, Shell, and TotalEnergies. Gabonese crude accounted for 22 percent, and the Republic of the Congo supplied 6 percent, but it is Nigeria’s contribution that has raised eyebrows given the country’s vocal criticism of Israel.
These oil supplies, according to the Global Energy Embargo for Palestine—an international coalition calling for a complete energy embargo on Israel—have enabled Israel to continue its bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza and fuel the military that maintains Israel’s 76-year occupation of Palestine.
“The terrifying reality of genocide and occupation faced daily by Palestinians is made possible by the finance, weapons, and energy transported to Israel by countries around the world, including Nigeria. We recognise that the Nigerian government has already stood for Palestine in international forums. Now we urge Nigeria to impose an immediate ban on oil exports to Israel,” says a representative of the coalition who asked not to be named for security reasons. Trade unions, civic groups, and solidarity movements are also being mobilised to support the embargo.
Is the Nigerian government complicit in genocide?
In January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that South Africa’s claims of Israel committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza were ‘plausible.’
Irene Pietropaoli, a senior fellow in business and human rights at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, says that governments and corporations must be wary of their complicity in Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law, specifically in terms of the ICJ order relating to trade with Israel by third states and companies located in third states.
“Arms, weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and other military supplies, including technology and fuel, are essential for the activities of the Israeli air force, ground forces, and navy and are making an essential contribution to the violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza and genocidal acts against the Palestinians. Third states must consider that their military or other assistance to Israel’s military operations in Gaza may put them at risk of being complicit in genocide under the Genocide Convention. Corporations and their managers, directors, and other leaders could also be held directly liable for the commission of acts of genocide, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity,” warns Pietropaoli.
Israel relies heavily on crude oil and refined petroleum imports to run its large fleet of fighter jets, tanks, and other military vehicles and operations. Crude is converted into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel at refineries in Israel.
A spokesperson for Eni rejected accusations that the company’s products were used for military purposes. Chevron spokesperson Laura Hurst maintains that the company “operates in compliance with all applicable laws.” Exxon, Shell, and TotalEnergies did not respond to requests for comment, nor did the government and foreign ministry of Nigeria.
Last year, Nigerian exports of crude oil to Israel totalled US$551.51 million, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade.
Khalid Alawaode of the Nigeria-Palestine Solidarity Movement (NiPaSom) says that the Nigerian government has adopted “a lackadaisical attitude towards the genocide.”
Leading analyst and commentator Azubuike Ishiekwene expresses a similar sentiment. “Over the years, Nigeria has cooled from a radical supporter of liberation struggles on the continent and elsewhere to a somewhat insular patron.”
Nigeria’s “precarious, almost 50-50 Muslim-Christian population leaves the Nigerian government walking on eggshells in Israeli-Palestinian matters. It is cautious not to offend the predominantly Muslim north and potentially spark deadly pro-Palestinian sectarian protests. It is also careful not to offend Christian sensibilities in the south, especially a growing evangelical population that considers itself a part of New Testament Israel,” explains Ishiekwene, who is also the editor-in-chief of the Leadership Media Group.
Alawode says that Nigeria’s Palestine solidarity groups will be engaging with all sectors of Nigerian society “to block every means by which our country may be complicit” and wants Bola Tinubu’s government to follow Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s example and suspend energy exports to Israel until the genocide in Gaza ends.
The Global Energy Embargo for Palestine says its call is inspired by the Anti-Apartheid Movement’s global call for oil sanctions against the South African apartheid regime made at the Conference of Independent African States in 1960. The oil embargo went on to become a crucial tool in South Africa’s struggle against apartheid. Like apartheid South Africa, oil is also Israel’s Achilles heel, as the nation imports vast quantities of this vital commodity.
In September, Nigeria, along with 123 other nations, supported a UN resolution calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories within a year and the imposition of sanctions for non-compliance.
The diplomatic and rhetorical support of Nigeria is important and deeply appreciated by Palestinians. But does this exonerate Nigeria’s direct complicity in literally fuelling Israel’s genocide of Palestinians?
Suraya Dadoo is a writer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Find her on X: @Suraya_Dadoo
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