Historic victory for Niger-Delta oil spill victims

Each time Eric Dooh remembers the oil spill that occurred on 10 October, 2004 due to a leak from Shell’s Trans-Niger pipeline near Goi, his community in Ogoniland, an ethnic group in southern Nigeria's oil-producing Rivers State, he feels uneasy.

During that period, oil from Shell’s leaking pipeline polluted the waterway surrounding his family’s house and affected his father’s local boats, fish pond, bakery and poultry farm.

"I am always bothered because these were things that were sustaining my family," 50-year-old Dooh told FairPlanet. "Each time I visit the area and those investments are no longer there, it pains me."

Oil spill is a recurrent problem in the Niger Delta, a region located in the Atlantic coast of southern Nigeria and cuts across nine states, as well as rivers. The region is rich in natural resources, including crude oil and biological diversity that play major ecological and economic roles in the lives of the area's residents.

Nigeria has benefited greatly from crude oil, which remained the country’s economic mainstay since it was discovered in the region in 1956, turning the nation into the largest oil producer in Africa since the 1970s. 

Currently, crude oil accounts for 86 percent of Nigeria's export earnings and 90 percent foreign exchange. Yet, pollution from oil spills has continued to put the lives of about 30 million people living in the region at risk. 

Data from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, which is responsible for monitoring and responding to oil spills in Nigeria, showed that there were 10,409 spill incidents in the Niger Delta, releasing a combined 464, 210 barrels of oil into the environment between 2011 and 2022. Spills in this region are caused by equipment failure, sabotage, old and rusty pipelines and well blowouts.

Shell's headquarters and its subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), operate 50 oil fields and over 3,700 miles of pipelines in the Niger Delta. Most of these pipelines are old and poorly maintained, and are thus prone to spills.

A 15 YEAR STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE 

During the October 2004 incident, over 23, 000 litres of oil spilled into the environment. Fire broke out and destroyed nearly 40 acres of mangrove forest.

In June 2005, barely a year after the oil spill incident in Goi, a leak from Shell’s pipeline near Oruma, another community in the Niger Delta, polluted the environment for 12 days before SPDC contained the spill. Then in August 2007, another incident occurred in Ikot Ada Udo, where about 100, 000 litres of oil leaked from Shell’s wellhead.

Following this, environmental rights non-governmental organisation Friends of the Earth Netherlands and four Nigerian farmers initiated a lawsuit against the headquarters of Shell in The Hague, Netherlands, on 9 May, 2008 due to oil pollution that took place between 2004 and 2007 in Goi, Oruma and Ikot Ada Udo.

The four farmers, including Dooh’s father, said the leaks from Shell’s oil pipelines contaminated land and waterways in the region and cost them their livelihoods. The proceedings took 15 years throughout which all the original plaintiffs in the case passed away. Dooh pursued the case following his father’s death. 

While Shell argued that the leak was caused by local saboteurs, the Dutch appeals court said the company did not prove that the oil spills were caused by sabotage. 

The court therefore ruled on 29 January, 2021 that Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary is responsible for damage caused by oil pipeline leaks in the Niger Delta communities. The Dutch Court then ordered Shell Nigeria to pay compensation to the Nigerian farmers and take measures to prevent future spills and damage by installing a leak detection system on the Oruma pipeline.

This court’s ruling differs from others as this is the first time Shell was ordered to install a leak detection system on their facility in Nigeria. In past cases, ruling focused more on compensation, and not necessarily on measures to prevent future pollution. 

"It is a system that in real time will alert the company once there is a leak anywhere on their pipeline or facility," Chima Williams, one of the lawyers that represented the farmers in the Netherlands, said of the leak detection system. "This will lead to environmental protection because if you stop the leak immediately it occurs, it will not spread," 

Although Shell had the right to appeal against the ruling in the Dutch Supreme Court, it entered into negotiations with Friends of the Earth Netherlands mainly to determine the compensation amount. Following the settlement discussion, Shell agreed to pay 15 million euros to the farmers and their communities for oil spill pollution resulting from its facilities.

The terms of the settlement were signed on 22 December, 2022, and in January 2023, Shell paid the agreed upon amount. The detection system has also been installed, and now environmental groups are "monitoring it to see how it is working," Williams said. 

"I am happy with the judgment despite the long years of litigation," Dooh shared.

HOPE FOR OIL SPILL VICTIMS 

Although several legal proceedings have been initiated, this is the first time in history a Dutch company is held responsible for the actions of its subsidiary in a foreign country. 

And while there have been successful court rulings in favour of Niger Delta residents, Williams noted that most oil companies do not abide by the judgment of the court. In each case, oil companies blamed the spill on sabotage and claimed they should not be held accountable for damage caused to individuals and communities.

"In some instances, they take all manner of litigation practices and processes to make sure they weigh down the litigants who are poor community people, who do not have the money to pursue their cases from the originating court to the Supreme Court," Williams, the executive director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria, said. 

Eventually, people "get weighed down that they either accept the terms offered to them by the oil companies or they lose everything," he added.

But the situation appears to be different now. With this ruling, Williams said, victims of oil pollution would be patient to "pursue their claims through the rule of law."

Meanwhile, Dooh is thankful for this recent ruling. He plans to restore most of the investments lost in the 2004 oil spill. 

"All I know is that I will restore these things back, such that anywhere my father is, he will be happy," he said. "I want to become an employer of labour that my father was. I have to re-invest the [compensation] money to the environment."

Image by Kamal Sadiq Adam.