| SHELL |
A court in the Netherlands, today, December 18, set
a historic precedent in its judgment when it decided that four Nigerian farmers
from the Niger Delta area of the country have the right to sue Shell the Dutch
oil multinational in the Netherlands courts for oil spills which devastated their
farms and fish ponds in Nigeria. The
four Nigerians whose farming activities suffered the effect of oil pollution resulting
from the operations of Shell; Friday Alfred Akpan from Ikot Ada Udo, Eric Dooh
from Goi and Alali Efanga and Fidelis Oguru from Oruma, all in Nigeria had in
conjunction with Friends of the Earth Netherlands taken Shell to court over the
oil spills.
The
plaintiffs stated in their case that their farms which served as their means of
livelihood were destroyed by the oil spill, rendering them jobless and
penniless after the defendant, Shell failed to clean up the spillage leaving
their farmland and fish ponds useless up to date. The Niger Delta region in
Nigeria is a densely populated wetland area and its inhabitants sustain
themselves through self-sufficient agriculture and fish-farming
Reacting
to the judgment, which took more than seven years in coming, one of the
farmers, Alali Efanga said: "This ruling offers hope that Shell will
finally begin to restore the soil around my village so that I will once again
be able to take up farming and fishing on my own land."
This victory against one of the
world’s most powerful companies would be a precedent for other people subjected
to corporate environmental and human rights deprivations all across the world. The plaintiffs in their suit had asked that Shell cleans up
the oil spills, pay them compensation for their losses and ensure that the oil
pipelines of the company are properly maintained and monitored to check new
spillage.
However,
in the course of the trial, Shell had questioned the plaintiffs' competence to bring
their suit before the courts in Netherlands as the farms which were destroyed
were in Nigeria, arguing that as such the proper courts to hear the matter were
the Nigerian courts.
The
matter moved from the lower courts to the Appeals Court of The Hague and its ruling
today which was in favour of the plaintiffs, with regards to not only the
matter of competence but also to the request of the plaintiffs that Shell
should let them see its internal company documents related to the matter, is truly
a first.
The
plaintiffs’ lawyer, Channa Samkalden expressed satisfaction with the ruling
saying that it sets a precedent for any victim of environmental pollution and
human rights abuses from any Dutch company around the world to seek justice in
a court in the Netherlands.
The
four farmers who took up this legal action are just a few of many thousands of other
Niger Delta farmers who have suffered the devastation of oil spillage from the
operations of Shell and the company must be feeling seriously threatened that
many more would come for their pound of flesh. However, Shell has been variously
accused in the past of doing very little to salvage the environment from the pollution
caused by oil spillage from its operations.
Hopefully,
this would serve as a wake up call to Shell and other multinational companies to
adhere to the best practices in their activities.
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