Williams, executive director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, successfully convinced the Court of Appeals in The Hague that Shell plc was responsible for the activities of its subsidiary in Nigeria – the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) . ) – and for the oil spill that devastated local farms.
The lawsuit against Shell Nigeria was brought by four farmers from the Goi and Oruma communities in the country’s oil-rich but poor Niger Delta region, who said their farms had been devastated after a large spill from underground pipelines.
The decision to allow Shell plc, formerly known as Royal Dutch Shell plc, to prosecute in this jurisdiction sets a precedent as it was the first time the Dutch parent company had been accused of the actions of its foreign subsidiary, SPDC. A lawsuit was filed in his country for
Shell Nigeria (SPDC) was eventually held liable for the oil spill and ordered to pay damages to farmers on January 29, 2021, ruling by the Court of Appeals of The Hague. The SPDC was also ordered to conduct a thorough cleaning of the damage caused to the community.
He is one of seven global winners of the prestigious award announced Wednesday morning to honor grassroots, environmental activists. The award is presented annually by The Goldman Environmental Foundation with ceremonies in San Francisco and Washington, DC.
Williams credited his victory to “God’s grace” in a video call with CNN from Lagos, Nigeria.
a historical case
However, Williams says he and his legal team proceeded because they established that the parent company in the Netherlands had a “rights flow” to the subsidiary – Shell Nigeria – and therefore was not exempt from its decisions and operations. could have been given.
“That gave us the confidence to appeal the decision, and the court of appeals agreed with us that the district court was wrong,” Williams said.
“The first verdict that we found favorable was on jurisdiction. The Dutch High Court sitting in The Hague ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear cases from Nigeria. That was the first hurdle we crossed,” he said.
Shell Nigeria and Bamidel Odugbesan told CNN that the company had settled with four farmers from the Goi and Oruma communities following last year’s decision, and representatives are “working amicably on the genuineness of the decision.”
Hundreds of oil spills occur every year
“We have groundwater with benzene over 900 times the WHO level, we have fields with poor yields, rivers that are barely fishable, thousands of newborns die annually as a result of spills. We have oil pollution as a result Has reduced neuroplasticity of the brain,” Niger Delta activist Sathah Nubari told CNN.
Nubari also said, “The Niger Delta is a graveyard of the living and we will never know how much damage has been done to us until we audit the entire environment.”
For many years, Shell has attributed most spills to theft and sabotage by locals.
“More than 95 percent of spill incidents in our operations are caused by sabotage,” Shell Nigeria’s Odugbesan told CNN.
“Across our operations globally, in 2021, it is only in Nigeria that we recorded theft of crude. And that has an impact on our costs. When our facilities are tampered with and there is a leak, we spend money to stop the leak, fix our facility, clean-up and fix the environment,” Odugbesan said.
operational problems
Nubari believes that oil companies are “untouchable and irresponsible in Nigeria and that is why communities and individuals approach foreign courts to seek justice.”
Williams agrees that it is difficult in Nigeria to hold multinationals accountable through government agencies.
For Williams, his protracted David-versus-Goliath legal battle has come with ups and downs.
He told CNN, “In 2008, I was arrested at a shale facility after I went to uncover that shale was still burning with gas, despite a 2005 court ruling that allowed him to live in Niger. The Evarecan community in Delta was ordered to stop gas flashing.”
Williams commended other court rulings that have signaled victory for the suffering communities of the Niger Delta.
“Since 29 January, there have been a lot of positive court decisions within and outside Nigeria, some with massive monetary awards. These decisions have led to huge positives for protecting the environment of the Niger Delta.”