Nigeria: Shell gives up, here's how much it will pay the Bodo fishermen
Environment — di Chiara Boracchi
Oil giant Shell will pay the fishermen of Bodo, in Nigeria, for the crude oil spills of 2008 and 2009.
Nigeria: Shell gives up, here's how much it will pay the Bodo fishermen
Oil giant Shell will pay the fishermen of Bodo, in Nigeria, for the crude oil spills of 2008 and 2009.
Oil company Royal Dutch Shell will pay £55 million, equivalent to approximately $84 million, in compensation to more than 15,600 Ogoni fishermen from the community of Bodo, in the Niger Delta, who were affected by two crude oil spills that occurred between 2008 and 2009.
Shell had initially admitted to spilling only 4,000 barrels; experts estimated sixty times that amount. For this reason, the company drew criticism from Amnesty International, which had accused it of seeking to evade its responsibilities over what had happened. For its part, Shell states that it always wanted to compensate the fishermen and regards spills from its own pipelines as serious reputational damage.
According to law firm Leigh Day, which represents the fishermen, the $84 million will be divided as follows: $30 million for the benefit of the community as a whole and approximately $3,300 to each affected fisherman.
© Guardian
The news was announced in London ahead of the trial that was due to begin shortly against the company. This is the most significant environmental victory ever achieved to date by an African state. It is also the first time that compensation for an oil spill has been paid directly to individuals rather than to local chiefs or solely to the community as a whole.
© america.aljazeera.com
The fishermen and the law firm said they were satisfied with the outcome: in 2011, Shell's initial offer to the Bodo community had been just £4,000 in total (approximately $6,000).
According to Day Martyn, the lawyer who handled the case along with his team, "The minimum wage in Nigeria is 18,000 naira per month (approximately £70) and 70 per cent of the Bodo population lives below the poverty line. Every one of the 15,600 said yes to the settlement."
Clean-up work across the entire affected area is also set to begin shortly, as stated by the oil giant's Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company. The company (along with others operating in the area) has already been criticised by the United Nations, Amnesty and the Nigerian government for having not yet cleaned up the Ogoniland area following the spills.