Win for Niger Delta communities as UK court allows case against Shell

A UK high court has ruled that over 13,000 Nigerian fishermen can bring claims against Shell Plc over oil pollution they said breached their right to a clean environment under Nigerian constitutional law.

The decision is a major development in the landmark legal claim by the Ogale and Bille communities. Both communities have fought the oil giant for a clean-up and compensation after the pollution devastated the area, leaving them without clean water and unable to farm and fish.

Shell will now face their claims for environmental damage in Nigeria, following the ruling. A statement from Leigh Day, representing the Bille and Ogale communities, said Shell had offered “no remedy or compensation and left the communities chronically polluted”.

The case would now move to trial in London and the High Court will hold a hearing on December 12 and 13 to determine how the trial plays out.

Dating back to 1989

Leigh Day submitted the claim in February on behalf of 11,317 people and 17 institutions in Ogale, an Ogoni fishing community. It followed claims from 2,335 people in Bille, another fishing community in the Niger Delta, which were submitted to the London High Court in 2015.

The filing said repeated oil spills dating back to at least 1989 severely contaminated the stream that served as Ogale’s main source of drinking water. Similarly, the lawyers said spills damaged vast areas of mangrove forest and killed most of the fish in nearby rivers in Bille between 2011 and 2013.

Shell’s own records show more than 55 spills have taken place in this community alone since September 2011, but the company said it’s too late for communities to seek compensation for spills that took place more than five years ago.

Shell, which has operated in Nigeria since the late 1950s, also said it is legally distinct from its local subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).

More so, it denied the damage was caused by SPDC’s negligence and said only Nigerian regulators — typically weak to hold oil majors to account — have the legal authority to order a clean-up.

“Draconian”

The judge said it could be argued the pollution has fundamentally breached the villagers’ right to a clean environment under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter and those constitutional rights were directly enforceable and can be relied upon against companies like Shell.

Such claims have no limitation period, meaning Shell, which plans to leave the Niger Delta after 80 years of highly profitable operations, would not be able to evade liability on the grounds the communities did not bring their claims within a narrow time frame.

“I am not going to strike out the claims,” said High Court Judge Juliet May, who said such a move would be “draconian,” given the “catastrophically environmentally damaging oil pollution in the Niger Delta.”

Leigh Day’s Matthew Renshaw said the ruling “is a significant moment in the eight-year battle by the Ogale and Bille communities to get Shell to take responsibility for the oil pollution that has blighted their land.”

“During this time, Shell has repeatedly resorted to using technicalities to try to block and delay our clients’ claims. Under Nigerian constitutional law, Shell would no longer be able to argue it has no responsibility for the pollution because it took place more than five years ago,” he said.

Shell cliams a win

Shell claimed the new ruling was a win. It said Justice May found the Ogale and Bille claims had failed to identify specific spills.

For Shell or its local Shell Petroleum Development Co. (SPDC) to be held liable, “the court must be satisfied that there were no other significant causes which contributed to the claimants’ alleged losses such as spills by other operators or pollution as a result of illegal refining or sabotage”, the spokesperson said.

“We strongly believe in the merits of our case. Oil is being stolen on an industrial scale in the Niger Delta. This criminality is a major source of pollution and is the cause of the majority of spills in the Bille and Ogale claims,” said a Shell representative.