Shell finally agrees to pay N45bn compensation to Ogoni people

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has finally resolved to pay the billions of naira awarded to the people of Ogoniland in Rivers state as compensation for oil spills in their communities. 

The company’s lawyer, A.O Ejelamo made this known on Wednesday, August 11, 2021, while addressing Ahmed Mohammed, the judge of a Federal High court in Abuja.

The people of Ogoniland had in 2001 instituted a suit against the oil company for the losses allegedly caused by the oil spills.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) started operations in Ogoni land in Rivers State in 1958.

In June 2010, a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt awarded N17 billion to Ogoni people as compensation.

The court also granted the Ogoni chiefs a 25-percent interest charge on the principal sum of about N17 billion.

The oil company appealed against the judgment up to the Supreme Court but lost.

The company again approached the apex court to seek a review of the judgment debt, but its application was dismissed in November 2020, as a five-member panel led by Olabode Rhodes- Vivour, a former justice of the Supreme Court, unanimously said that the application lacked merit.

However, at the resumed court session on Wednesday, Ejelamo sought the court’s permission to pay the debt through the chief registrar of the court in a bank account to be opened for the purpose.

It was eventually agreed that the amount is paid to the aggrieved people through their lawyer, The Cable reports.