Oil spill: Shell agrees to pay Ogoni communities N45.9bn compensation

…compensation satisfies final judgement-Shell spokesman

…blames spill on  3rd party during civil war

The people of Ogoni in Rivers State got justice on Wednesday as the multinational oil company, Shell Petroleum Company, agreed to pay N45.9 billion for the losses suffered as a result of oil spills that ravaged their communities.

The court endorsed the decision that the monetary compensation which was ordered by the Federal High Court 10 years ago should be paid to the communities through their lawyer, Lucius Nwosu.

Shell’s lawyer, Aham Ejelamo (SAN), had disclosed Shell’s acceptance to pay before Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court Abuja on Wednesday.

Ejelamo had also sought the permission of the court to pay the compensation through the Chief Registrar of the court.

However, it was finally agreed that the said sum should be paid through the lawyer to the Ogoni people.

Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court Lagos Division had on June 14, 2010, awarded the compensation sum in favour of the Ogoni people in a suit that was filed by them.

However, the Ogoni people waived the interest on the principal sum as a concession reached upon reconciliation.

A spokesperson for The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, said:

“The order for the payment of N45.9bn to the claimants is for full and final satisfaction of the judgement in the suit, Chief Agbara and Others v. SPDC, in respect of the spills which we maintain were caused by third parties during the Nigerian Civil War, a challenging period which resulted in significant damage to oil and gas infrastructure in the Niger Delta region. While the SPDC Joint Venture does not accept responsibility or liability for these spills, the affected sites in the Ebubu community were fully remediated.”