The year 1995 was very tragic for Nigeria: after years of starvation and exploitation, the ethnic minority in Ogoniland, an area rich in oil and gas, began mounting a peaceful civil society movement to demand a greater share of the oil wealth to fund infrastructure in their impoverished communities. Led by the political activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) began holding multitudinous protests of 300,000 people in the early 1990s, particularly targeting the activities of oil multinational Royal Dutch Shell. After several arrests and high profile human rights trials, Saro-Wiwa was executed by hanging by the military dictatorship. Just this week, government officials have announced that Shell is being ousted from its concession in Ogoniland, which has been inactive as far back as 1993, opening the opportunity for the entrance of a new operator. Ken Saro-Wiwa Junior, the son of the famous activist, gave an important interview with Reuters, commenting on what Shell’s departure means for the Ogoni people, and what kind qualities the next foreign operator will have to offer to earn the rights to the fields. The Shell ouster, says Saro-Wiwa Junior, is evidence that the government is listening. Over the past number of months, I have become more and more immersed in Nigerian affairs on behalf of some of my clients, and my contacts in Abuja are telling me that there is currently a dramatic shift happening in the government of President Umaru Yar’adua – that the administration is serious about taking on the Delta issues head-on, something that the Obasanjo administration was never able to handle. If this is indeed the case, then we are going to see a very careful negotiation between government, communities, and international energy companies which should establish an entirely new level of engagement – closing the gap between human rights and oil that has plagued the country for so many years.