Oil spill victims under the aegis of Oil Spill Victims Vanguard (OSPIVV) have initiated a lawsuit in the United Kingdom against Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), a subsidiary of Royal-Dutch Shell Plc., over alleged $3, 600,191, 206 in compensation to 168,000 persons and 350 communities affected by the December 20, 2011 spill from its Bonga Oil Field in Delta State, The Guardian reports.
The group’s Executive Director, Harrison Jalla in a statement, said: “We have filed a pre-action notice on September 21, 2017 in the TCC High Court of Justice in London through our lawyers, Johnson & Steller Solicitors of Handover Square, Mayfair on behalf of the victims and communities affected by the Bonga Oil Field spills of December 20, 2011 when Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), due to equipment failure in their Bonga Oil Field, discharged over 10, 000 barrels of crude oil into the Atlantic Ocean which negatively affected over 168,000 persons in over 350 coastal communities in Nigeria.”
He claimed that the pollution, which covered a distance of 185 kilometers along the coastline, compelled fishermen to desert the sea, farmlands, vegetation and the environment in general. He added that the House of Representatives and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) fined SNEPCO the sum of $3, 600,191, 206 to be paid to the affected shoreline communities, He however regretted that SNEPCO had failed to pay the compensation, adding that his group was in court to get justice for the victims.
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