SPDC reacts to Dutch court judgement ordering Niger Delta oil spill compensation

SHELL Nigeria has reacted to the judgement of a Dutch court ordering the oil company to pay compensation to some Niger Delta communities over oil spills.

The Dutch court found Shell responsible for the pollution of farmlands and fish ponds of four farmers in the Niger Delta.

In its decision, the Court of Appeal in The Hague, ordered the subsidiary of Shell in Nigeria to pay compensation over the oil spills in Oruma in Bayelsa, Goi in Rivers and Ikot Ada Udo, in Akwa Ibom States in 2008.

Shell has however expressed disappointment over the ruling, while some environmentalists have applauded the decision of the Dutch Court of Appeal’s decision, which favours the farmers affected by the oil spillage.

The SPDC stated that it was “disappointed” by the court order, and insisted that the incident in question was caused by sabotage.

The Media Relations Manager of the SPDC, Bamidele Odugbesan, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that vandals were responsible for most leaks from its operations.

”We continue to believe that the spills in Oruma and Goi are the result of sabotage,” he said.

”We are therefore disappointed that this court has made a different finding on the cause of these spills and in its findings that SPDC is liable.

”Sabotage, crude oil theft and illegal refining are a major challenge in the Niger Delta.

”Indeed in 2019, about 95 per cent of spill incidents from our operations there, were due to such criminal acts.

”Regardless of causes, we clean up and remediate, as we have done with the spills in this case.

“Like all Shell-operated ventures globally, we are committed to operating safely and protecting the local environment,” Mr Odugbesan said.

According to reports by NAN, the exact amount of compensation would be determined, at a later date, and Shell, which lost the appeal, could still appeal against the ruling at the Dutch Supreme court.

President, Homeland Chapter of Ijaw Professionals Association, and a former Commissioner for Environment in Bayelsa, Iniruo Wills, has applauded the ruling of the Dutch court.

”This is a most welcome landmark ruling. It is a crying shame that hapless folks and communities have to shop for environmental justice abroad, because they cannot find it in Nigeria.

”In addition to litigating specific cases, there is a need for intensive sensitisation of the Nigerian judiciary and the regulatory system, including the Federal Ministry/Ministers of Petroleum and Environment, to demonstrate a sense of urgency, duty and commitment.

”It is embarrassingly lacking, for over sixty years till date, that environmental justice has eluded communities, whose existence is threatened by the continually worsening plague of oil and gas pollution,” Wills said.

An environmental activist, Nnimmo Bassey, also stated that the decision was right and just.

”This judgement did not come as a surprise to some of us. The evidence was overwhelming and has refused to disappear even after 13 years. There are some crimes that are hard to hide. Environmental crimes are of that sort.

”It takes willful blindness to pretend not to see, smell or feel. We are happy that Shell has been told the truth to that, so they must pay for the extreme harm they have inflicted on the people and the environment.

”It took long, two of the four plaintiffs died, but their struggle has not been in vain.

”No corporation, private or public, should ever think they can commit Ecocide in the Niger Delta and not be held accountable.