Shell:1970s oil spill in Nigeria paid

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The payout will be the “complete and final settlement” with the Ejama-Ebubu village over a leak during the 1967-70 Biafran War, according to a spokesman. Third parties, as per the corporation, are to blame for the damage.

Shell was fined $41.36 million by a Nigerian court in 2010, but the firm filed many failed appeals. The country’s Supreme Court ruled last year that the amount payable by the firm, with interest, was more than ten times the actual judgment, despite Shell’s denial. In 1991, the lawsuit was filed.

Shell has previously stated that it was not given the opportunity to defend itself against the charges and that the issue has been referred to international arbitration. “They ran out of tricks and decided to come to terms,” lawyer Lucius Nwosa, who represented the local community, was quoted as saying “The decision is a vindication of the resoluteness of the community for justice.”

Pollution from leaking oil pipelines is a serious issue in the Niger Delta, despite the fact that the case stretches back decades. Shell’s Nigerian unit was found liable for harm caused by leaks in the Niger Delta from 2004 to 2007 by a Dutch appeals court earlier this year.

Shell Nigeria was ordered by the court to compensate Nigerian farmers, and the subsidiary and its Anglo-Dutch parent corporation were compelled to install equipment to avoid such damage.