• Experts question integrity of oil infrastructure as failure persistAs International Oil Companies are planning to divest from Nigeria, concerns are beginning to mount over growing cases of oil spillage in the Niger Delta region and the N800 billion court judgment between Shell Nigeria and some communities in the region.
Shell, using all its legal resources, is seeking to convince the judge at the Court of Appeal to obviate payment of damages to some 88 persons, who got judgment in November 2020 from a Federal High Court in Owerri over spillage on their fishing facilities in Ejalawa community, Oken-Ogogu swamp farmlands.
The appellate court would also on that date hear all other pending applications, including that of the plaintiffs/respondents, seeking an order of court directing Shell to deposit the said judgment sum with the court as condition for hearing the application for stay, as well as another case seeking to set aside the notice of appeal filed by Shell on the grounds it is incompetent and an abuse of court process.
The concern for most environmental rights activists, legal experts and other industry stakeholders is that the growing cases of oil spill and court cases emanating from them pose fresh test as the N800 billion landmark judgment, regarded as the highest fine ever in the history of the country, may reshape the nation’s oil industry.
Recall that earlier this year, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja ordered Shell to pay the sum of N45.9 billion to the Ejama-Ebubu people in compensation, ending a legal case that began in 1991. The court equally this year ordered Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited and the NNPC to pay the sum of N81.9 billion as cumulative damages to oil communities in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
Bassey said: “It is also an indicator to corporations whose activities are inherently destructive to know that it makes economic sense to exercise utmost duty of care when carrying out their activities. The inclination to think that because they are in joint partnerships with government, they can ignore the right to life of the people is ultimately injurious to their business.”
Leader of the Alliance for the Defence of Eleme, Johnson Emere Mba-Ngei, told The Guardian that failure of oil infrastructure was hurting the people and environment of the oil producing region, stressing that unless the system makes oil operators pay for their negligence, the situation may persist. “I hope the Federal Government and all other government agencies and the courts are not found wanting in the implementation and enforcement of the judgments.”