Shell Oil vs Nigerias Bodo community: UK court to deliver judgment Friday
News & Trends •
lawyers for spdc the nigerian arm of shell argued that the litigation should be struck off in1 a court in london will deliver judgment on friday in a case filed by lawyers for the bodo community in nigerias oil-producing niger delta1 the community was devastated by two major oil spills a decade ago1 the bodo oil spills have been the subject of years of legal wrangling1 in 2015 shell accepted liability for the spills agreeing to pay 55 million pounds 83 million dollars at the time to bodo villagers and to clean up their lands and waterways1 oil spills sometimes due to vandalism sometimes to corrosion are common in the niger delta a vast maze of creeks and mangrove swamps criss-crossed by pipelines and blighted by poverty pollution oil-fuelled corruption and violence1 the spills have had a catastrophic impact on many communities where people have no other water supply than the creeks and rely on farming and fishing for survival1 at the same time oil companies have run into problems trying to clean up spills sometimes because of obstruction1 and even violence by local gangs trying to extract bigger payouts or to obtain clean-up contracts1 after years of delays the clean-up in bodo is currently underway and litigation in the london high court is stayed or on hold1 the lawyers went to court in london to fend off what they said was an attempt by shell to kill off their litigation1 october 2018 or at the latest a year later and that it should only be re-activated if spdc failed to comply with its obligation to pay for the clean-up1 lawyers for the bodo community said that was unacceptable because the clean-up could go wrong for any number of reasons and that under shells proposal the villagers would be left without the recourse of going back to court1 the effect of what shell is trying to do is to kill off the case said dan leader the bodo communitys lead lawyer on the sidelines of the hearing1 its only because of the pressure of litigation that the clean-up is getting back on track1 but shells lawyers citing an earlier judgment compared the stayed litigation to a gun in the cupboard that1 the bodo communitys lawyers wanted to be able to hold to shells head at their convenience for years on end1 they said the litigation was a hindrance to the clean-up because it gave some local community members the impression that there was still the possibility of a bigger payout incentivising them to block the clean-up rather than cooperate1 the previous persistent delays to the clean-up process clearly demonstrate that litigating nigerian oil spill cases in the english courts does little to resolve the complex underlying security and community issues which can frustrate attempts to clean up areas impacted by oil pollution an spdc spokeswoman said1 we hope that the community will continue to grant the access needed for clean-up to progress as planned.reutersnan1