Over 11,000 Nigerians have filed for damages against Shell at London's High Court. The residents of the oil-producing Niger Delta join their Ogale counterparts in a long-running lawsuit that seeks to hold the company responsible for adverse environmental impact, Leigh Day, the UK law firm that represents the plaintiffs, stated.
The claim from the residents of Ogale comes in addition to one brought by 2,335 members of the Bille community which was issued at the High Court in 2015. It brings the total number of Nigerian plaintiffs seeking compensation from Shell to more than 13,500.
However, the oil giant claimed that the parent company can't be accountable for what has happened in Nigeria. If the company loses the trial, it will have far-reaching consequences.
Demanding Compensation From Shell for Environmental Damage
On January 27, 11,317 people and 17 institutions, including churches and schools from Ogale, filed for compensation for loss of livelihood and damage, joining those from the Bille fishing settlements, who have been going through the English courts since 2015. The cases are now managed together, Leigh Day said in a statement.
According to the law firm, the lawsuit could benefit all members of the communities which have a total population exceeding 55,000. The communities reportedly live "with the chronic pollution, even where they have not sustained individual losses."
"The communities have had their way of life devastated by the spills and are asking for Shell to clean up their oil and compensate them for their loss of livelihoods as their ability to farm and fish has been largely destroyed," the firm said.
The communities' claims provide details on the nature of the damage the residents have been suffering from. The 2011 UN report, based on a three-year examination of Ogoniland, revealed that people in the area face serious oil contamination on a daily basis that impacts water sources, farmlands and air quality. The claims alleged that decades of oil spills have contaminated the water and destroyed the lives of thousands of fishermen and farmers.
According to Leigh Day, the majority of the residents in Ogale don't have access to clean water as the groundwater is highly polluted, while the emergency clean water system has not been operating for several years. People from Bille experience a similar situation. Apart from that, the water pollution killed most of the fish in the rivers, leaving the villagers with no source of income and food that "has caused a fundamental shift in the way of life of the Bille community."
The King of Ogale, King Okpab, shows a picture taken near the Ogale area in Nigeria as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in London, Monday, Nov. 21, 2016.
© AP Photo / Frank Augstein
The litigation with Shell started about eight years ago. At first, the Nigerians’ application to sue the company was rejected by two UK courts. However, in February 2021 the UK Supreme Court ruled that there is "a good arguable case" that Shell's parent company, along with its Nigerian subsidiary, could be legally responsible for the pollution and harm caused to the communities.
The claims have since been filed at court, and the next step is a case management hearing, which is expected to be held this spring, ahead of the trial, which could take place the following year.
Shell's Defense
In its November 2021 defense, the oil giant argued that the parent company has no legal liability for any of the pollution given that its Nigerian subsidiary “is fully equipped to manage all aspects of its operations in the Niger Delta.”
Moreover, many of the spills in Ogale and Bille occurred more than five years before the claims were brought, and according to Nigerian laws, communities can't seek compensation for leaks, which among other things were caused by third parties, in this case, the company said. It added that only the government can legally force it to clean up.
According to the law firm, Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary has reported 55 spills in the area since 2011, 16 of which happened since the start of 2020.
"The overwhelming majority of spills related to the Bille and Ogale claims were caused by illegal third-party interference [...]. We strongly believe in the merits of our case,” Shell said, as cited by media.
Shell further argued that the Niger Delta is a complex operating environment and "litigation does little" to tackle the real problem, which is pollution caused by criminality, theft and sabotage. The company also stated that it can't be held responsible for any spills caused by bunkering.
However, the communities rejected Shell's arguments, saying that it “failed to take reasonable care to prevent the claimants from being harmed by spills of oil” caused by its subsidiary’s facilities.
Their law firm underlined that the implications of these arguments are that the impacted Nigerians will be unable to seek clean-up and claim compensation for loss of livelihood unless they provide evidence that the damage was caused by operational failure within five years. For most of the communities, it means that there is no "legal remedy against oil companies."
In 2021, Shell, which has been the largest oil producer in Nigeria for decades, announced its plans to leave the Niger Delta and sell its onshore oilfields and assets.
It appears that Shell is seeking to leave the Niger Delta free of any legal obligation to address the environmental devastation caused by oil spills from its infrastructure over many decades. At a time when the world is focused on 'the just transition', this raises profound questions about the responsibility of fossil fuel companies for legacy and ongoing environmental pollution.