
By Patience Moses Chat
Nigerian oil company, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), has responded to a lawsuit against it in London by the community members of Ogale, a farming and fishing community in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
There have been media reports about claims that members of the community, including churches and schools, had made in January 2023 that oil spillage from SPDC operations destroyed their farms and polluted their water sources, thereby stifling some of their activities for livelihood.
In addition to this, members of the Bille Community also claimed to have been made victims of oil spillage, which had contaminated their waters and farms, blaming it on Shell’s energy exploration and production undertakings.
It has been reported that about 13,200 hectares of mangrove swamps located in these communities remain polluted, killing marine life, depleting most of the fish stock and leaving the community without its primary means of income and economic lifeline.
However, in response to these allegations, SPDC said through a spokesperson that the company will continue cleaning all the affected areas, and that filing charges against the company is not the best way out.
Shell has always insisted that oil spillage in Nigeria’s Niger Delta is caused by oil theft, as well as illegal refining and sabotage from community members, which the company says it has also been suffering from.
Valuechain findings indicated that Shell had experienced a similar issue with three other communities in the three states of Bayelsa, Cross River and Akwa Ibom. In this case, the company was found guilty by a court in The Hague, compelling it to pay a €15 million compensation to the communities.