Deputy Paramount ruler of Goi community in Gokana Local Government area of Rivers State, Chief Eric Dooh has said that the compensation by oil giant, Shell will compensate losses the community has suffered from oil spillage.
Chief Dooh said this in an interview with NatureNews.Africa correspondent on Friday, December 30, 2022.
Chief Dooh was speaking in reaction to Shell’s acceptance to pay 15m Euro compensation to three Niger Delta Communities for oil pollution.
The three communities are, Oruma community in Bayelsa, Goi community in Ogoni, Rivers State and Ikot Ada Udo community in Akwa Ibom State.
In 2007, the farmers and fishermen, together with Friends of the Earth Netherlands, initiated legal proceedings against the headquarters of Shell in The Hague because of the oil pollution which took place between 2004 and 2007 in the villages of Goi, Oruma and Ikot Ada Udo.
Friends of the Earth Netherlands, together with lawyers Chima Williams, current Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, and Channa Samkalden, took up the case and have been in court since 2008. The proceedings took so long that all the original claimants (Barizah Dooh, Chief Oguru, Elder Friday and Alali Efanga) have since died. Now, over 15 years later, the farmers and their fellow villagers are to receive compensation.
In 2021, Friends of the Earth Netherlands with the four Niger Delta Farmers won the case against Shell for oil spill pollutions in Nigeria and the Shell Climate Case where at the claims of Friends of the Earth Netherlands, the court ordered Shell to reduce its global emissions by 45% by 2030.
Speaking to Chief Dooh who also doubles as the Head of Chiefs in Gokana Local Government area, he said the compensation covers the loss of livelihood, environmental damages and other losses the community has had.
“The compensation will end the court case that started since 2015 concerning 2004 spill. But it doesn’t mean that if there is spill, people will not complain about it.
“My overall feeling about this development is that, the court case has come to an end and I know that whatever that is gotten out of the process of litigation is going to give relief to the community in terms of healthy livelihood.
“It is going to create an enabling for the people to get something out of the process in such a way that they may invest in business.
“For me I’ll invest in the environment and ensure that it is back to life,” he said.
Asked about the timeframe of the compensation, he said “there is no stipulated timeframe. Shell has accepted to pay and we are expecting that they will pay hopefully by next year. Maybe they will start from one state before another. I am anticipating that they may start payment in January or February.”
Also speaking to an environmental activist, Nnimmo Bassey, who is the executive director of Health of the Mother Earth (HOMEF), he added that “there is a process to be followed for the funds to get to the victims. As you can imagine, it will not go directly from Shell’s bank account into theirs. However, it should get to them soon enough.
Bassey noted that the compensation does not cover the cleanup of the damaged areas, saying that “the penalty being paid, by my interpretation, underscores the guilt of the oil company and is a token to assuage the harms suffered by the people.”
He further noted that an important part of the judgement is the installation of leak detection devices on parts of the relevant pipelines.
He urged that government regulations should insist that oil companies install such devices as a routine.
“Knowing the notorious spate of oil spills in the Niger Delta , all active pipelines should have leak detection devices installed on them,” he said.