Shell, villagers agree to $83.5 million for huge oil spill
MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Oil giant Shell has agreed to pay a Nigerian fishing community 55 million pounds (about $83.5 million) for the worst oil spill ever suffered in Nigeria.

Wednesday's agreement ends a three-year legal battle in Britain over two spills in 2008 that destroyed thousands of hectares (acres) of mangroves and the fish and shellfish that sustained villagers of the Bodo community in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta.

It "is thought to be one of the largest payouts to an entire community following environmental damage," the claimants' London lawyers, Leigh Day, said.

Shell said it is paying 35 million pounds ($53.1 million) to 15,600 fishermen and farmers and 20 million pounds ($30.4 million) to their Bodo community.

"We've always wanted to compensate the community fairly," said Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director of Shell Nigeria, which is 55 percent owned by the Nigerian government.

Shell originally offered 4,000 pounds ($6,000) to the entire community, Leigh Day said.

Sunmonu said Shell also has agreed and is "fully committed" to a cleanup.

Chief Sylvester Kogbara, chairman of the Bodo Council of Chiefs and Elders, said he hoped "that Shell will take their host communities seriously now" and embark on a cleanup of all of Ogoniland.

A U.N. Environment Program report has estimated it could take up to 30 years to fully rehabilitate Ogoniland, an area where villagers have been in conflict with Shell for decades.

Kogbara said the community money will be used to provide needed basic services. "We have no health facilities, our schools are very basic, there's no clean water supply," he told The Associated Press.

Individually, he said villagers are discussing setting up as petty traders and other small businesses until their environment is restored. Each person gets 2,200 pounds ($3,340) in a country where the minimum monthly wage is less than $100.

Shell's Sunmonu insisted that oil theft and illegal refining remain "the real tragedy of the Niger Delta" and "areas that are cleaned up will simply become re-impacted."

Amnesty International said Shell continues to blame oil theft for spills — which means it does not have to pay compensation — when the company's own documents state its aging oil pipelines present a "major risk and hazard."

Shell had argued that only 4,000 barrels of oil were spilled in Bodo while Amnesty International used an independent assessor who put it at over 100,000 barrels — considered the largest ever oil spill in mangroves.

"Oil pollution in the Niger Delta is one of the biggest corporate scandals of our time," said Audrey Gaughran of Amnesty International. She said thousands more people remain at risk because of Shell's failure to fix aging and dilapidated pipelines.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-07

Good! But the question is, what will they do with the compensation?

They won't have to much of a problem there as they will be lucky if any of that money filters down to the actual village.

They might get a couple of roads and a community hall .

Interesting a western company has to pay when there is a mistake but when their home grown freedom fighters blow up pipelines no one ever has to pay, oil on the ground either way.

It is the villagers that cause the problem with illegal tapping into the lines to steal oil, christ they even set up small refineries in the jungle to process their ill gotten gains. This is a serious (and dangerous) problem in the Niger delta.

Surprised they got anything from Shell!

Whether it was the locals' responsibility or Shell's responsibility, it's a spit in the ocean; $83.5 million relative to Shell's profit of $16+ billion in 2013.

As for the locals, won over by the lure of (approx) 3 years wages in compensation.

If they are anything like the locals in my village, at least 50% will p*ss that up the wall in less than a year. Woohoo! We're rich! Let's party!

You're not rich you numpties, as you'll soon discover.

A sad situation for the wildlife/environment, but a perfect example of humanity showing it's true colours. The poor bought for a pittance, while corporations, pursuing greed, acquire, consume and destroy.

C'est la vie.

will the local kamnan take all the money on this account with a promise to deliver it to the rest of the people ?