The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), on Wednesday, told a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja that it was ready to pay N45.9 billion earlier awarded to the Ogoni people in Rivers state as compensation for oil spillage in the area.
Recall that Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Lagos division of the Federal High Court had on June 14, 2010, ordered the said amount to be paid by the company, having agreed with the Ogoni people.
During the court sitting on Wednesday, the Company’s lawyer, Chief Aham Ejelamo, told Justice Ahmed Mohammed that his client would now comply with the earlier order.
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But Ejelamo noted that the sum would be transferred to a designated bank account and that the Chief Registrar of the court should be directed to supervise while the funds are disbursed to the Ogoni people.
In his ruling, the judge ordered that the monies should rather be paid through the lawyer who represented the people, Chief Lucius Nwosu, SAN.
An independent assessment done by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) found that for over 50 years of oil operations in the area, the pollution in Ogoniland has “penetrated further and deeper than many may have supposed.”
“In at least 10 Ogoni communities where drinking water is contaminated with high levels of hydrocarbons, public health is seriously threatened…” UNEP had stated in its 2017 report.