Niger delta communities to sue Shell in London for oil spill compensation

Niger delta communities hit by oil spills will bypass Nigerian courts and try to sue Shell and other oil companies in London following the £55m ($80m) settlement awarded this week to 15,600 people in Bodo, say community chiefs and non-government groups.

“It makes sense to work with a UK law firm,” said Amasenibo Abere, a Bonny island community leader whose fishing grounds were devastated in late November 2014 when a Shell pipeline was damaged, spilling thousands of barrels of oil into creeks and swamps.

As with the Bodo and many other Niger delta spillages, Shell and the Bonny Island community are at loggerheads, with no offer of compensationand only some of the oil cleaned up after months of negotiation.

According to Shell, around 3,800 barrels of crude were spilt at Bonny.

“Normal life has stopped here because of the spill. This was just the last of multiple spills we have experienced. Shell has still not done the clean-up here. They are a big company and if we go to the Nigerian courts, they will win,” said Abere.

In a statement to the Guardian, Shell said it blamed the Bonny spill on a failed crude oil “theft point” installed on its pipeline by “unknown persons”. But local people say they had video evidence that it was not sabotage but a Shell contractor working in a buggy which struck the pipeline.

“I went there and inspected it,” says Celestine Akpobari who works with Port Harcourt-based human rights group Social Action. “It is clearly a very large spill. We estimate it is 20,000 barrels, perhaps many more.”

According to Akpobari, communities have lost trust the in spill investigation process which involves oil companies appointing investigators and paltry compensation deals offered before all the facts are known. In the case of the Bodo spills, Shell offered an initial £4,000.

“We have no confidence in the joint investigation committee set up by Shell to investigate the [Bonny] matter because the committee has already compromised before conclusion of investigations,” said Abere. “[Shell] is desperate to hide the truth so as avoid payment of compensation”.

Amnesty International this week called again for reform of the spill inspection system. “Instead of being in the dock when there is an oil spill in Nigeria, Shell gets to act as judge and jury. The Niger delta is the only place in the world where companies admit to massive oil pollution from their operations and claim it is not their fault. Almost anywhere else they would be challenged on why they have done so little to prevent it,” said Audrey Gaughran.

“Communities will now look to London for justice. In Nigeria they know they cannot get redress. People get no individual compensation. It makes sense now for communities to go to London lawyers,” said Akpobari.

The tendency of Nigerian courts to side with oil companies when they appeal against lower court awards was acknowledged by an oil company source who said this week: “It is not unusual for large awards to be made against companies in the Nigerian courts but often they are overturned on appeal. Higher awards [than Bodo] have been made but they are generally subject to appeal.”

Martyn Day, head of Leigh Day law firm which represented the Bodo community, says that the doors to suing Shell in London were now open. “We brought the case to London on the basis that we could show that Shell HQ had a significant role to play. We will look to bring other cases here.”

Leigh Day say that they plan to investigate four other pollution claims against Shell because the English court system is fairer. In the case of Bodo, Leigh Day was asked to represent the community in London because the former king of Bodo insisted that compensation should be shared equally.

“He was a visoinary leader. The normal process in Nigeria is that a spill happens and a few chiefs bring the case and any money awarded goes to them. He wanted the English system because it makes sure that the ordinary man in the street gets individually compensated. It gives power to local people,” said Day.

“Hopefully we will see a sea change in how Shell approaches spills now,” he said.

In an average year, there are hundreds of spills in the oil rich delta. Shell claims most of these are sabotage, but it is obliged to clean up its oil spills immediately.

Increasingly, the perceived unfairness of the compensation and clean-up system is leading directly to corruption and a breakdown in law, says Social Action.

In a new report the group says spills are invariably followed by people resorting to theft and to constructing illegal refineries. “Following the massive spill [at Bodo] illegal refining activities were observed all around the areas where the spilled crude could be easily collected for refining. Spillages destroy livelihoods.

“The company has disappointed the people. Shell is only good in causing havoc and making a few people rich at the expense of the masses,” it says.

Source: The Guardian(UK.)