Nigerian subsidiary of Shell oil company sentenced for environmental pollution

The farmers first sued Shell in 2008 over pollution in their villages in southeastern Nigeria ADRIAN DENNIS AFP / File

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3 min

After more than thirteen years of legal battle, a Court of Appeal in The Hague in the Netherlands ordered oil giant Shell to pay financial compensation to a group of Nigerian farmers, whose land had been ravaged by a major leak of oil.

A David-style lawsuit against Goliath, after which the Nigerian subsidiary of the Dutch multinational is held responsible for this significant pollution in the oil region of the Delta (south).

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With our correspondent in Lagos,

Liza Fabbian

Shell's subsidiary in Nigeria will have to pay for poisoning the soil and waterways in two villages in the Delta region, depriving local people of their livelihoods. 

During this trial, the multinational had pointed out the responsibility of alleged saboteurs, but the court rejected this hypothesis, which would have allowed the company to get away without spending a cent. 

Dutch justice therefore ruled in favor of the local farmers, supported by the NGO Friend of the Earth International.

This condemnation of a Shell subsidiary is a great first, even if the parent company, the world's third largest oil company, is not questioned. 

The company is nevertheless called on to ensure in the future that this type of incident can no longer occur.

An anti-leakage control system should also be installed on one of the affected pipelines. 

The trial will now continue to assess the amount of compensation to be paid by Shell, but this verdict is already a huge victory for environmental defenders and local populations.

The communities of the Delta regularly face such disasters, linked to poor maintenance and lack of infrastructure protection, according to conservationists. 

Master Chima Williams, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, followed up on the verdict with the plaintiffs in Port Harcourt

“ 

Of course they are very excited, and very happy that after all this struggle, which has lasted 13 years, they were able to get justice.

There is also an emotion for all of us, as two of the plaintiffs could not live to this day to see this verdict, while they were hoping for this conclusion.

This is unfortunate, because Shell could have shortened the procedure, accepted its wrongs, solved the problem with the local communities. 

I believe that this decision will have positive effects: it will reduce crisis situations because citizens will know that they can obtain justice by legal means, rather than trying to take justice themselves.

It will also force the big companies, the multinationals, to be careful, to act responsibly because they will know that no matter how long they try to avoid justice, the force of the law will eventually catch up with them.

 "

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• Pollution