An influential traditional chief in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta has demanded that UK energy giant Shell pay $12 billion for environmental pollution before it leaves the region.
Bubaraye Dakolo of the Ekpetiama Kingdom appeared before a federal high court in the southern city of Yenagoa on Friday demanding reparations for clean-up after decades of environmental damages by Shell, according to a statement by a coalition of civil society groups.
Farming and fishing communities in the Niger Delta, the heartland of Nigeria's crude production, have fought years of legal battles over damage from oil spills in the area.
UK energy giant Shell is one of the companies accused for decades of causing serious environmental degradation across Nigeria's southern oil- and gas-rich region.
The monarch's legal challenge was prompted by Shell's recent divestment of $2.4 billion in Nigerian assets as it shifts to offshore operations.
Shell did not immediately comment.
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'Massive' oil spills
The monarch and several civil society groups accused Shell of trying to "exit the Niger Delta without first decommissioning obsolete infrastructure, remediating environmental damage, and compensating the Ekpetiama people for long-standing harm".
He claims Shell's activities have led to massive oil spills, gas flaring, and the destruction of fishing and farming while rendering rivers, forests and farmland toxic.
The case came up for mention and has been adjourned to 22 July.
Alongside Shell, the lawsuit named Nigeria's petroleum and justice ministers and a Nigerian upstream petroleum regulatory agency as defendants.
The suit seeks to halt the transfer of Shell's assets pending an agreement on money for environmental cleanup, decommissioning of obsolete infrastructure and community compensation.
"Shell wants to leave behind a mess that has ruined our rivers, farmlands, and livelihoods," Dakolo said in the statement.
“We demand justice, not abandonment. Shell must clean up, compensate, and decommission. Only then can it leave.”
Isaac Asume Osuoka, the director of Social Action Nigeria, one of the parties to the lawsuit, told France's AFP agency that "Shell wants to exit with profit, leaving behind toxic air, poisoned water, and broken communities".
In February a High Court in London began a hearing to address allegations that Shell has polluted vast areas of the Niger Delta, particularly in regions traditionally claimed by the Ogoni people.
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A Shell spokesperson at the time said that the "real problem in the Niger Delta [was] oil spills due to theft, illegal refining and sabotage, which cause the most environmental damage".
Nigeria, Africa's leading oil producer, wants to attract more foreign investment since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to office in 2023 with a raft of reforms.
The plaintiffs argue that the Nigerian state, through the Minister of Petroleum Resources, NUPRC, and the Attorney General, has failed in its duty to prevent Shell's alleged corporate evasion of responsibility.
(with newswires)
