After a 13-year-long legal battle, Shell Petroleum company has agreed to pay $111 million settlement to a Nigerian community, after its 1970 oil spill had devastated the sandy loam soil in Ejama-Ebubu in Rivers State, Nigeria, with other long-term effects.
The oil giant company will pay the 'full and final settlement' to the Ejama-Ebubu community within the next three weeks, which will compensate the damages caused to community's land and water, farmland, and marine ecosystems.
Among the four farmers which pushed through the case since 2008, two had already passed. However, the plaintiffs did not give up to seek justice for Nigerian people who had suffered the consequences of the oil company's negligence.
Creeks and vegetations devastated as a result of spills from oil thieves and Shell operational failures in Niger Delta on March 22, 2013. Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) has threatened to shut down production in April for nine days in the entire Nembe Creek Truck Line (NCTL) to remove a number of bunkering points on pipelines vandalised by oil thieves in the region.
No compensation could restore the community's original state
After about two million barrels of crude oil spilled out of Shell's pipelines and flowed across the Nigerian community, a native of Bori said that their land had never been the same again, and compensation is just a temporary relief for Ejama Ebubu people.
Due to this incident, the community's economy has also gone downhill.
"The people of the community used to excavate sand for internal use, and sell at times to people from neighboring communities. But today, we buy the commodity when we want to build. We have been deprived of our means of livelihood for 40 years, and the situation will remain like that forever," he noted.
A man scoops spilled crude oil allegedly caused by Shell equipment failure floating at the bank of B-Dere waterways in Ogoniland, Rivers State, on August 11, 2011.
The traditional ruler of the community, Chief Isaac Osaro Agbara, who was 15 years old at the time, said that their way of life has changed since and "no amount of compensation could restore the community to its original state."
"Most of our people had to flee the community to neighboring towns and villages. Many families were dislocated," he said. "There was instant hunger in the land. The first time it rained after the incident, the water dropping from the roof was dark. We could not fetch and store water for domestic use."
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Shell claims the spill was caused by third parties
While the company has agreed to pay the settlement fully, Shell claims that the spill was caused by third parties damaging its infrastructure and says "it has fully remediated the impacted sites."
For years, Shell had been quashing lawsuits and negating court decision multiple times. A Dutch court first ordered Shell to give financial compensation to farmers in January of this year, and held them accountable for oil spills on their lands.
Illegal oil refinery destroyed by Joint Task Force at Nembe Creek in Niger Delta on March 22, 2013. Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) has threatened to shut down production in April for nine days.
"The court ruled that Shell Nigeria is liable for the damage caused by the spills. Shell Nigeria is sentenced to compensate farmers for damages," Senior Justice Sierd Schaafsma said, as reported by Agence France-Presse.
However, Shell's Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria had claimed that the spills were caused by sabotage, but Shell has not proved that claim 'beyond reasonable doubt'.
While the financial settlement may not compensate decades of environmental injustice, the community believes it will be their fresh start.
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