Settlement avoids London High Court case and will be split with £35m paid directly to affected individuals and £20m for the Bodo community
A Shell oil drum lies in the middle of the road in Bodo, Nigeria on Thursday, June 10, 2010.
The Shell settlement of £55m for the Bodo oil spill in Nigeria is thought to be the largest payout to any African community following environmental damage.
Photograph: Jane Hahn/Corbis John Vidal
The mud stinks and the crabs caught in the swamps around the town of Bodo in the Niger delta still smell of light crude oil.
But the 15,600 Ogoni farmers and fishermen whose lives were devastated by two large Shell oil spills in 2008 and 2009 will be celebrating on Wednesday as the company’s Nigerian subsidiary announces a £55m settlement.
British banks will start to transfer 600,000 naira (about £2,100) into each of the local people’s accounts and the community will be given millions to build health clinics and refurbish its schools.
The settlement, split £35m for individuals and £20m for the Bodo community, avoids Shell having to defend a potentially embarrassing London high court case which was due to start shortly. It is thought to be the largest payout to any African community following environmental damage and the first time that compensation for an oil spill has been paid directly to affected individuals rather than to local chiefs.
“It’s several years’ earning. I don’t think I have ever seen a happier bunch of people. The minimum wage in Nigeria is 18,000 naira a month and 70% of the Bodo population live below the poverty line. Every single one of the 15,600 has said yes to the deal,” said London lawyer Martyn Day whose team of 20 has just returned from the delta after negotiating the settlement and helping to set up thousands of bank accounts for Ogoni people who did not have one.
Shell’s first offer to the Bodo community in 2011 is understood to have been £4,000. This was raised to £18m in 2013 but was also rejected. According to Shell, the villagers had demanded £300m for the damage done.
In a seperate development, the company’s Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) said it expected to start to clean up its pollution in the Bodo fishing grounds and swamps “within months”. Shell had initially estimated that around 4,000 barrels of oil were spilt in the two events, but oil experts calculated from film footage that it could have been 60 times as much. According to Amnesty International, Shell had intentionally underestimated the spills in an attempt to minimise compensation payments. This was denied by Shell.
Villagers stand near a container containing crude oil collected by villagers as sample at the shore of the Atlantic ocean near Orobiri village, days after Royal Dutch Shell’s Bonga off-shore oil spill, in Nigeria’s delta state December 31, 2011.
Villagers stand near a container containing crude oil collected by villagers as a sample at the shore of the Atlantic ocean near Orobiri village, days after Royal Dutch Shell’s Bonga off-shore oil spill, in Nigeria’s delta state
The company welcomed resolution of the case but blamed oil thieves for most of the many spills that occur every year in the delta.
“From the outset, we’ve accepted responsibility for the two deeply regrettable operational spills in Bodo. We’ve always wanted to compensate the community fairly and we are pleased to have reached agreement,” said Mutiu Sunmonu, Managing Director of SPDC. “However, unless real action is taken to end the scourge of oil theft and illegal refining, which remains the main cause of environmental pollution and is the real tragedy of the Niger Delta, areas that are cleaned up will simply become re-impacted through these illegal activities,” he said.
But Amnesty International accused Shell of trying to evade its responsibilities and said thousands of other people living near its old pipelines were at risk from spills.
Audrey Gaughran, the charity’s director of global issues, said: “Oil pollution in the Niger Delta is one of the biggest corporate scandals of our time. Shell needs to provide proper compensation, clear up the mess and make the pipelines safer, rather than fighting a slick PR campaign to dodge all responsibility.”
Styvn Obodoekwe, a spokesman for the Nigerian centre for environment, human rights and development said: “Oil giant Shell’s long-overdue compensation payout to a community devastated by oil spills is an important victory for the victims of corporate negligence.”
Legal firm Leigh Day, who represented the Bodo community, warned that the pay-out could now lead to other Nigerian oil spill cases being heard in the London courts rather than in Nigeria.
“This will open the door. We have four or five other cases which we have been asked to look at. We and others will look to bring other cases. We are pleased that Shell has done the decent thing but it is deeply disappointing that it took them six years to take this case seriously and to recognise the true extent of the damage caused to the environment and to those who rely on it for their livelihood,” said Day.
12 Jun 2010, Kegbara Dere, Nigeria — Bodo Creek, Nigeria. The oil polluted waters of Bodo Creek, 50 km from Port Harcourt on Thursday, June 10, 2010. After a major oil leak from an underground pipe in April 2010, the waters of Bodo Creek are filled with oil forcing farmers and fishermen to move out passed the spills in order to provide for their families. Facebook Twitter Pinterest expand
The oil polluted waters of Bodo Creek, 50km from Port Harcourt following the oil spill in June, 2010.
Photograph: Jane Hahn/Corbis
Chief Sylvester Kogbara, chairman of the Bodo Council of Chiefs and Elders said: “The community can start to live again. For the last few years people here have had no income at all. It has been very painful. We cannot start fishing again but we start business and begin to trade. There is some optimism again.
“For now, the Bodo community is very happy that this case has been finally laid to rest. The hope is that this will forge a good relationship with Shell for the future, not only with the Bodo people but with all the Niger Delta communities that have been impacted in the same way as us,” said Kogbara. “We hope that Shell will take their host communities seriously now… and clean-up the whole of Ogoniland.”
Shell and other oil companies were slated by the UN Environment programme, Amnesty International and the Nigerian government for their lack of action in cleaning up dozens of major spills in Ogoniland. The 400sq mile coastal region which, under the leadership of Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, rose peacefully against the company in the 1990s in protest against spillages, is one one of the least developed regions in Nigeria.
FRENCH VERSION
Mais les 15 600 Ogoni agriculteurs et pêcheurs dont les vies ont été dévastées par deux grandes marées Shell en 2008 et 2009fêtera mercredi comme filiale nigériane de la compagnie annonceun règlement 55 millions de livres.
Banques britanniques commenceront à transférer 600 000 naira(environ £ 2 100) dans chacun des comptes de la populationlocale et la communauté se verront des millions pour construiredes dispensaires et rénover ses écoles.
La colonie, divisée les 35 millions de livres pour les particuliers et20 millions de livres pour la communauté de Bodo, évite de Shelld’avoir à défendre une affaire de haute Cour de Londrespotentiellement embarrassante qui devait commencerprochainement. Il est censé être le plus gros gain à toutecommunauté de l’Afrique à la suite de dommages àl’environnement et la première fois qu’une indemnité pour undéversement d’hydrocarbures a été versée directement auxpersonnes concernées plutôt qu’aux chefs locaux.
Villageois se trouvent près d’un conteneur renfermant des matières brut huile recueillie par les villageois comme échantillonau bord de l’océan Atlantique, près du village de Orobiri, joursaprès Bonga de Royal Dutch Shell offshore oil spill, dans l’état dudelta du Nigeria 31 décembre 2011.
“Dès le départ, nous avons accepté la responsabilité des deuxrejets opérationnels profondément regrettables à Bodo. Nous avons toujours voulu compenser la communauté assez et noussommes heureux d’avoir conclu un accord, a déclaré MutiuSunmonu, directeur général de SPDC. “Toutefois, à moins quel’action réelle est prise pour mettre fin au fléau de vol de pétroleet de raffinage illégal, qui reste la principale cause de la pollutionet la véritable tragédie du Delta du Niger, les zones qui sontnettoyées simplement deviendra re-impactés par le biais de cesactivités illégales,” a-t-il dit.
Mais Amnesty International a accusé Shell d’essayer de se soustraire à ses responsabilités et ladite des milliers d’autrespersonnes vivant près de ses pipelines vieux couraient le risque dedébordements.
Audrey Gaughran, directeur de l’organisme de bienfaisance desenjeux mondiaux, a déclaré: “la pollution pétrolière dans le Deltadu Niger est l’un des plus grands scandales de notre temps. Shelldoit fournir une compensation correcte, désactivez le gâchis etsécuriser les pipelines, plutôt qu’une nappe de combat PRcampagne d’esquiver toute responsabilité.”
Styvn Obodoekwe, un porte-parole pour le centre nigérian pourl’environnement, droits de l’homme et le développement a déclaré: « paiement de compensation longtemps de pétrole géantShell à une communauté dévastée par les déversementsd’hydrocarbures est une victoire importante pour les victimes denégligence entreprise. »
Cabinet juridique Leigh Day, qui a représenté la communautéBodo, a averti que le pay-out pourrait désormais conduire dansd’autres cas de déversement de pétrole nigérian soit entenduesdevant les tribunaux de Londres, et non au Nigeria.
“Cela ouvrira la porte. Nous avons quatre ou cinq autres cas dontnous avons été invités à regarder. Nous et autres chercheront àapporter d’autres cas. Nous sommes heureux que Shell a fait lachose décente mais il est très décevant qu’il leur a fallu six anspour prendre cette affaire au sérieux et à reconnaître l’ampleurréelle des dommages causés à l’environnement et à ceux qui endépendent pour leur subsistance,”, a déclaré le jour.
Chef Sylvester Kogbara, Président du Conseil des chefs et desanciens, a déclaré Bodo: « la Communauté pourrait commencer àrevivre. Pour le dernier quelques années personnes ici n’ont euaucun revenu du tout. Il a été très douloureux. Nous ne pouvons pas commencer à nouveau la pêche mais nous démarrerentreprise et commencer à échanger. Il n’y a encore une fois,d’optimisme.
“Pour l’instant, la communauté de Bodo est très heureuse quecette affaire a été finalement enterrée. L’espoir est que celaforgeront une bonne relation avec Shell pour l’avenir, passeulement avec les gens de Bodo, mais avec toutes lescommunautés du Delta du Niger qui ont été touchées de lamême manière que nous, “a déclaré Kogbara. « Nous espéronsque Shell prendront leurs communautés d’accueil au sérieuxmaintenant… et nettoyer l’ensemble du pays ogoni ».
Shell et les autres compagnies pétrolières étaient prévus par leprogramme environnement des Nations Unies, AmnestyInternational et le gouvernement nigérian pour leur manqued’action pour le nettoyage des dizaines de grands déversementsdans le pays ogoni. La région côtière de mile 400sq qui, sous ladirection de l’écrivain nigérian Ken Saro-Wiwa, est passépacifiquement contre la société dans les années 90 pour protestercontre les fuites, est une une des régions moins développées auNigeria.
