Shell has accepted to pay 15m Euro compensation for oil spills in 3 Niger Delta Communities, a statement by Environmental Rights Action and Friends of the Earth announced.
The statement made available to NatureNews on Thursday, also informed that Shell assured that it will also install leak detection system.
The beneficiaries of this compensation are four Nigerian farmers and their fellow villagers.
According to Friends of the Earth Nigeria, this historic victory at the courts and the acceptance of Shell to do the needful is a victory for all.
The statement recalled that 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.
According to Plaintiff Eric Dooh, “The compensation we receive from the court case in the Netherlands will enhance a total transformation of the community people and myself in terms of reinvestment in our environment. It will be a relief for all of us when the money is finally paid as compensation for our losses after a long time of legal action against Shell.”
Executive Director of the ERA/FoEN Chima Williams said: “Justice may have been delayed but it has now been served. The resilience of the farmers, their communities, and determination to make Shell pay is a model that will galvanize other impacted communities in the Niger Delta and elsewhere to act and stay on course.
“Shell’s acceptance to pay compensation and install leak detection system is both unprecedented and signals victory for all parties – the victims, environmental justice campaigners and Shell. Further more, if Shell can do this, it means that there is no hiding place for any corporate polluter as they may run, but cannot hide from the long arms of the law”
Also commending the development, Member, Board of Environmental Rights Development Foundation, Nnimmo Bassey said: “The victory of the Niger Delta farmers is a testament that Big Polluters may run but will find nowhere on earth to hide because they will be sought out.
“ We celebrate the farmers still alive to savour this victory and believe the spirit of the deceased four Niger Delta farmers and others will now rest, but corporate polluters will never rest until their operations and attitudes in respect for their hosts, protection of their environment, livelihoods and humanity is guaranteed”.
Celebrating this historic feat, HRH Pere W. David Amakiri, Paramount Ruler of Oruma Community intoned “Though the compensation Shell agreed to cannot replace human life, we have been able to show through our patience and determination in the last 15 years that people power will always trump corporate behemoths. Shell has learnt a bitter lesson”
On his part, Mene Stephen Kobani, Paramount Ruler of Goi Community unequivocally advised “We anticipate that other co-travellers in the fossil fuels industry will now understand that the fires the Niger Delta farmers and fishermen lit in 2008 will continue to rage until they pay up and clean up for their mess in every Niger Delta environment.”