A UK court has ruled that a group of Nigerian fishermen can sue Shell Plc over oil pollution that devastated their communities.
This was revealed by a statement issued by Leigh Day, the law firm representing the fishermen, on Thursday.
According to the statement, about 13,000 fishermen from the Ogale and Bille communities in the Niger Delta claimed that Shell violated their right to a clean environment under Nigerian constitutional law.
The court ruled against striking out the claims. The judge stated that doing so would be “draconian” considering the “catastrophically environmentally damaging oil pollution in the Niger Delta.”
According to reports, Shell contended that the plaintiffs failed to identify the specific spill or spills that caused the damage.
Shell, on the other hand, said there is a large-scale theft of oil taking place in the Niger Delta.
“This criminality is a major source of pollution and is the cause of the majority of spills in the Bille and Ogale claims.”
The UK Supreme Court had granted permission for a group of 42,500 farmers and fishermen from the Ogale and Bille communities to sue Shell over spills in February 2021.
Meanwhile, Shell prevailed in a 2021 Bonga oil spill case before the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
The Nigerian government sued Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company in 2016. The government seek N1.3 trillion in compensation for communities impacted by the 2011 Bonga oil spills.
