The High Court in London has received individual claims from more than 13,000 people from two communities in Nigeria against the oil corporation Shell.
Residents from the Ogale and Bille communities in the Niger Delta want Shell to clean up oil spills and compensate them for the damage to their land.
The claims, which were filed on Friday January 27, are the most recent development in a seven-year legal battle.
The majority of leaks mentioned in the Ogale and Bille claims were caused by third-party intervention, such as pipeline sabotage, illegal bunkering, and other types of oil theft, a spokesperson for the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) told reporters.
According to Abimbola Essien-Nelson, there is also widespread unlawful refining of stolen crude oil in these regions, which is a major source of oil pollution.
“SPDC has and will continue to clean up and remediate areas affected by spills from its facilities or pipeline network”, regardless of the cause, she added.
However, the British law firm defending the locals claims that no cleanup has been done and that since September 2011, there have been 55 more oil spills in the Ogale community.
A press release from the Leigh Day firm states Shell has filed a legal defense claiming that the communities do not have the legal right to enforce a clean-up against Shell.
Residents still lack access to clean water and farmland despite a 2011 UN report urging that the area be swiftly cleaned up.
After operating there for 80 years, Shell made the announcement in 2021 that it was leaving Nigeria and selling its onshore assets in the country.
Author-Roberta Appiah
