Damages For Oil Spill In Ogoniland

The announcement that Shell Petroleum De­velopment Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has finally paid the Bodo Community in Ogo­niland of Rivers State, the sum of £55 million as compensation for two oil spills in 2008, is a welcome development.
Shell said that £35 million will, be paid to individuals who agree on the settlement terms, while the balance of £20 million will be settlement agreement with the community in respect of the two highly regrettable operational spills in the area in 2008.
The company’s country Manag­ing Director, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, was quoted as saying that Shell has accepted responsibility for the operational spills in Bodo.
We recall that in 2011, the United Nations Environmental Programme, UNEP, recommended the setting up of a $1 billion fund to clean up contaminated land in Ogoni, on account of spills from its operations in the area. It would be recalled that the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) had at a recent event to mark three years since the sub­mission of the UNEP report criti­cised the Federal government for the delay in its implementation. The organizations Public Rela­tions Officer, Mr. Legborsi Esaen lamented that oil pollution in the area had contaminated both surface and ground water at levels over 900 times above the World Health Organisation (WHO) pre­scribed safety limit. Much as we welcome the efforts of Shell and other stakeholders to mitigate the effect of the massive oil spills in Ogoniland, it is pertinent to note that the degradation caused to the environment due to years of dispute and litigations has in no small measure affected the liveli­hood of the people of the area in the long term.
While the remediation exercise from the present clean up could be immediate, it is worthy to note that a fully sustainable recovery of Ogoni land could take 25 to 30 years and would require long-term financing. We believe that the dire situation in which the affected communities find themselves today would have been avoided if both Shell and the Federal Government had shown enough concern imme­diately the spills occurred.
Rather, both sides were engaged in the blame-game on who should take responsible for the cleanup. With that sad episode put behind the nation, we call on both par­ties to carry out the cleanup and payment of compensation with the due diligence they deserve.#

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Source: DailyTimes