https://fsrn.org/2016/04/niger-delta-villagers-turn-to-european-courts-seeking-redress-for-oil-spills/
[video and audio in on-line article]
Niger Delta villagers turn to European courts, seeking redress for oil
spills
· April 29, 2016
Environmentalists rate Nigeria’s Niger Delta as one of the most polluted
oil producing regions in the world. For more than fifty years, frequent
oil spills have plagued the area, mainly from Western oil companies’
installations. Pollution from crude spills has rendered farmlands,
forests and fish ponds unproductive. But villagers rarely receive
compensation when they seek redress in court. Many say the companies,
especially the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, have used their powerful
influence to escape liability for the oil spills and resulting
environmental damage. Now, villagers from Niger Delta are seeking
justice through European courts. Sam Olukoya reports.
A stone’s throw away from where youth play traditional drums in the Ikot
Ada Udo village square is the scene of a major oil spill from a Shell
facility, which changed the lives of many here for the worse.
“During the spill, the oil flooded everywhere,” says Friday Akpan,
looking over the scene of the disaster. “The whole of this place was
completely flooded with crude oil. It damaged every crop. The spill was
so much, was so serious, the whole thing was so alarming, till it
touches the neighboring villages. It was unbearable.”
Akpan said the spilled oil spread into forests and farmlands and flowed
into his forty seven fish ponds: “Immediately [after] the spill took
place, the rain water carries the oil down to the pond. Forty seven fish
ponds, and since the pond is at a sloping portion, the whole oil was
pushed into the ponds and it damaged all the fish I got from the
Ministry of Agriculture. I did not get anything from the ponds.”
It’s a familiar story in villages across the Niger Delta, where spills
from Western oil companies’ pipelines and facilities have wrecked the
livelihoods of those who depend on local farmland and waterways.
Children swim in a river in Oruma, where villagers say they have yet to
recover from an oil spill that occurred in 2005. Local resident Alali
Efanga says the spill destroyed his fish ponds, leaving him with no
other source of income.
“After this oil spill, Shell, when their oil spill occurred, all hopes
have been lost. For now I live from hand to mouth,” says Efanga. “My
children too, they are drop outs. I could not take care of their school
fees, I could not also take care of their medical bills. If that those
fish ponds were there, by now definitely life will be better than this.”
Attempts to seek reparations and damages via Nigerian courts have been
largely unsuccessful as foreign oil companies wield considerable
financial influence within the country. So Niger Delta residents
affected by oil spills are seeking justice in European courts.
In March, residents of two villages filed a lawsuit against Shell in a
British court. One of them is the Bille community, which villagers say
has been so badly devastated by spills that crude oil is seeping into
their property. The other village is the Ogali community, where
residents argue incessant pollution has made the water dangerous for
drinking, swimming or fishing. Instituting cases against Shell in Europe
has yielded some positive results for Niger Delta villagers.
A legal challenge in a British court from one Ogoni village forced Shell
last year to agree to an out of court settlement of $77 million. Shell
had refused to compensate the villagers prior to legal action.
Another success story is that of Akpan, the fisherman from Ikot Ada Udo.
In January 2013, a lower court in the Netherlands ruled that Shell
Nigeria’s subsidiary should pay him compensation for the oil spill that
polluted his fish ponds. In December last year, he got a landmark
judgment from another Dutch court, which ruled that Shell can be sued in
the Netherlands for the actions of its subsidiaries in other parts of
the world. Shell is, however, appealing both judgments. Akpan received
legal assistance from the international environmental organization,
Friends of the Earth.
Suing Shell in Europe may give hope to a few victims, but thousands of
others, like Abo John, say they are too poor to seek compensation from
the company.
“So this our community, we suffered a lot in short. My father’s pond got
spoiled. We are suffering because of poverty,” John says. “If not we
would have sued these people to court on our own personally, but because
of poverty, we cannot take any of them, that is the Shell, to any place.”
Relief is unlikely to come soon for Niger Delta residents affected by
oil spills. A report by the United Nations Environment Program shows
that, even if current pollution is stopped in Ogoniland, the clean-up of
the area will take up to thirty years at a cost of $1 billion. Ogoniland
covers just a small proportion of the Niger Delta. Beyond the costs and
time needed for a proper clean-up lies the seemingly insurmountable
hurdle of the lack of political will within Nigeria to hold powerful
polluters accountable.
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