Blessing Iruoma, Port Harcourt
It was a huge jubilation on Friday in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, when a Dutch court sitting in Hague, Netherlands ordered Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to compensate four communities in Niger Delta over oil spills from the company’s facilities that affected the livelihoods of the victims.
The Appeal court had ruled that Shell compensate the affected communities; Goi community in Ogoni, Rivers state and Oruma in Bayelsa. The court also ordered that Shell should ensure there is no more oil spill in the areas.
It would be recalled that the Dutch branch of Friends of The Earth, had in 2008 brought the lawsuit on behalf of the four farmers against Shell following oil spills that destroyed their farmlands and others properties in Ikot Ada Udo community in Akwa Ibom State, Oruma community in Bayelsa State and Goi community in Rivers State.
The farmers, which include Princewill Alali Efanga, Chief Eric Barizaa Dooh, Elder Friday Alfred Akpan, and Chief Felix Oguru, had urged the Court to order Royal Dutch Shell to mandate its subsidiary, SPDC, to remediate and recover the environment, that was destroyed by its facilities.
Our correspondent who monitored the court sitting on Friday via Zoom, reported that the Dutch court ruled that Shell Nigeria is ordered to compensate the affected farmers for damages done on their lands, adding that they can appeal the judgement through the Dutch Supreme Court.
The court did not also specify the terms of compensation but directed Shell and its Nigeria subsidiary company to trace all its leaking pipelines and amend them to avoid further spills in Niger Delta and other areas of operation.
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Again, the court set aside the ruling of one of parties in the appeal, Mr Friday Alfred Akpan, a native of Ikot Ada Udo of Akwa Ibom for more facts to his claims.
Speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt, immediately after the ruling, Barr Chima Williams, the Acting Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, stated that the ruling is historic and have put the entire Niger Delta in the mood of celebration.
Williams who is also the Nigerian counsel for the farmers in the suit noted that the ruling upturned that of 2012 judgment delivered by a lower court; a High court in the same Hague, Netherlands against Goi and Oruma communities.
He added explained that the judgment on Ikot-Ada-Udo was set aside because the court wanted to source further evidence before ruling on the matter.
According to Williams: “Today is a historic day in the Niger Delta. We have been working with the communities to ensure that the multinational, Shell that has destroyed our environment and our source of livelihood are held accountable. The journey started way back 2008 and today, we are having a judgement from the Court of Appeal in the Hague, Netherlands.
“We will recall that sometime ago, in 2012 or there about, the lower Court in the Hague delivered a judgement that denied the communities of Ikot Ada Udo in Akwa Ibom, Oruma in Bayelsa State and Goi in Ogoniland of Rivers State. The Court denied them of their claims against Shell.
“The court has ordered Shell to pay compensation to these victims and also to ensure that no further spill occurs in these communities and this is the high point of the judgment.
“For Ikot-Ada-Udo, the judgment has not been delivered because the court wants to have some further information and evidence to know what to rule on.”
One of the farmers, Chief Eric Dooh, who spoke with The Nigerian Xpress, described the judgement as a world-class precedent against a multinational oil company, that should be a lesson for other companies operating in the Niger Delta region.
Dooh said: “It is a world-class precedent against a multinational oil company They will never behave the way they have been behaving. It will be a lesson to other multinational oil companies that are operating in the Niger Delta to do the right thing and the polluter-pay principle will be in full force.”
Another victim of the pollution from Bayelsa State, Chief Fidelis Ayoro-Oguru expressed happiness over the judgment saying, ” I am very happy over the Judgement which I have been informed is in our favour.
Chief Oguru who is blind at the time of ruling, said: “My condition which Shell has made it impossible for me and my family to survive has been elevated by this successful judgment. I pray this judgment should not go further than this so that Shell should come and pay me compensation for what they have destroyed in my lands such as my fish pond, economic trees, and the land itself’.
