Niger Delta villagers lose UK court bid to sue Shell over pollution

A British court has blocked Nigerian villagers' attempt 
to sue oil giant Shell for allegedly polluting their fishing 
waters and farmland.

The two communities in the Niger Delta - the Ogale
 and Bille - claim decades of oil spills have ruined
 their homes.

They wanted their case heard in the UK.

But the High Court in London agreed with the 
Anglo-Dutch company's argument that the case, 
affecting more than 40,000 people, should be heard 
by local courts in Nigeria.

The villagers have repeatedly said they will not get a
 fair hearing in Nigeria.

However, Igo Weli, a spokesman for the multinational's
subsidiary, the Shell Petroleum Development Company 
of Nigeria (SPDC), told the ERIC GOSSIP it was a "myth
" that the communities could not get justice in their
 home country while welcoming the High Court decision
 as "common sense".

"It's about claims by Nigerians about the operations
 of a Nigerian company in Nigeria and I think the 
Nigerian court is the best place to handle that,
" he said.

"It's about incidents related to sabotage, illegal refining 
and crude thefts. Bille and Ogale are two communities
 that have been severely impacted by those activities 
which is a major source of pollution in the Niger Delta."

But neither of the communities - who say repeated 
spills since 1989 have meant they do not have clean 
drinking water, farmland or rivers - are ready to give up.

King Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi, ruler of the Ogale, said: 
"Our community is disappointed but not discouraged
 by this judgement.

"This decision has to be appealed, not just for Ogale
 but for many other people in the Niger Delta who will 
be shut out if this decision is allowed to stand.

"Shell is simply being asked to clean up its oil and to
compensate the communities it has devastated."

They have been given the go-ahead by Mr Justice 
Fraser to challenge his ruling in the Court of Appeal.

In 2014, another community in the delta, Bodo, took 
Shell to court in the UK over an oil spill. That case was 
settled by Shell the following year with an 
unprecedented $84m (£55m) payout to the Bodo
 community.

The difference with this latest case is that the 
Nigerian subsidies SPDC has refused to submit to
 a UK jurisdiction.