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Amnesty International Backs Over 13,500 Residents Of Nigerian Communities Demanding Clean-Up Of Shell Oil Spillage

Amnesty International Backs Over 13,500 Residents Of Nigerian Communities Demanding Clean-Up Of Shell Oil Spillage
February 2, 2023

The residents are saying that UK Company Royal Dutch Shell, popularly known as Shell, must carry out a clean-up exercise of its crude oil spillage that has destroyed the means of livelihood of the communities.

International human rights organisation, Amnesty International, has thrown its weight behind the demand for clean-up of oil spillage by over 13,500 residents of Ogale and Bille communities in Rivers State, Niger Delta, South-South Nigeria.

 

The residents are saying that UK Company Royal Dutch Shell, popularly known as Shell, must carry out a clean-up exercise of its crude oil spillage that has destroyed the means of livelihood of the communities.

 

On October 14 and December 22, 2015, the Ogale and Bille communities respectively filed claims against Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in a UK High Court.

 

On behalf of about 42,500 residents and citizens of Niger Delta communities who seek a lasting solution to extensive oil pollution that has unfortunately destroyed their livelihoods and the environment, the claims of the two communities were filed before the UK High Court by Leigh Day law firm.

 

Business and Human Rights Resource Centre reports that the UK High Court on January 26, 2017, held that the communities could not seek redress against Shell in English courts. The Judge concluded that there was no sufficient evidence that Shell exercised a high degree of oversight, control or direction over SPDC, and therefore the parent company had no legal responsibility for pollution by its Nigerian subsidiary.

 

The communities appealed this decision, arguing that the Judge reached this conclusion before the disclosure of relevant documents or hearing witnesses about the relationship between Shell and SPDC.

 

On 14 February 2018, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s ruling, with a majority of judges holding that the parent company did not hold a duty of care towards affected communities.

 

It was gathered that on May 12, 2020, the communities appealed the case at the UK Supreme Court and on February 12, 2021, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the case against Royal Dutch Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary can proceed in the UK courts and determined that there is a good arguable case that Shell is legally responsible for the systemic pollution affecting the Ogale and Bille communities.

 

As of July 2021, it was revealed that Shell did not contest the UK courts' jurisdiction in the case and that its Nigerian subsidiary, SPDC would be joined to the claims.

 

The legal battle has been ongoing in the UK since 2015, while residents of the affected communities continued to languish in penury as the oil spill continued to wreak havoc, destroying their livelihoods, poisoning their wells and polluting their lands and waters.

 

In the residents’ resumed demand for Shell to clean up the oil spill in their communities, Amnesty International announced its support for the communities’ demand saying, “Amnesty stands by these two communities in the Niger Delta, which have been engaged in litigation against Shell for seven years, asking that the company clean up the damage caused and compensate them for their lost livelihoods.

 

“Shell announced in 2021 that it plans to sell its onshore oil fields and assets in the Niger Delta after 60 years of highly profitable operations in the area. It is concerning that Shell has not explained how it plans to address the widespread and systemic pollution.

 

“This case is now proceeding to trial to determine whether Shell’s parent company in London, as well as its Nigerian subsidiary the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), is legally responsible for the harm caused to the communities in Nigeria.”

 

The Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, said, “Had this level of contamination and pollution occurred in Europe or North America, it is hard to imagine that there would not have been swift and severe consequences and legal redress.

 

“Shell should clean up the pollution the oil has caused in these communities and compensate those whose livelihoods have been devastated and whose health has been harmed.”