Pay Compensation To Nigerian Farmers Over Oil Spillage, Court Orders Shell

The Dutch Appeal Court has ordered Shell Nigeria to compensate four Nigerian farmers, in a case of alleged oil spillage in three villages in the Niger Delta.

The Court on Friday said that the parent company, Royal Dutch Shell was liable to install equipment to prevent future damage in its host communities.

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The case is the first in which a company and its foreign subsidiary have been tried in the Netherlands for allegedly breaching duty of care abroad.

Milieudefensie, Dutch arm of environment group Friends of the Earth, who brought the case 13 years ago, had maintained that Shell is responsible for crude leaks, adding that the decisions today could spur further pollution litigation for oil firms.

Report showed that two of the Nigerian farmers have died since it was first filed in 2008, as Shell argued that the matter should not be heard in the Netherlands.

The Director of Milieudefensie, Donald Pols was said to have remained hopeful that the success of the case are immense, as he expects hundreds of similar cases to follow.

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“Companies will realize they can be held responsible for environmental violations abroad,” he said.

Meanwhile Shell had reported that oil spills in the Niger Delta are a result of sabotage and that the firm cleans them up regardless of the cause.

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