Oil spillage to cost Shell $3.8 billion in compensation

National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA has called on Shell Nigeria Exploration and Petroleum Company Limited, SNEPCO, to urgently pay $3.8 billion as damages to 350 communities in Niger Delta region.
 
It would be recalled that Federal High Court in Lagos, fined SNEPCO the sum of $3.8 billion as a result of damages and desecration of the people’s environment caused by Bonga Oil Spillage in 2011.
 
Chairman, Governing Board of NOSDRA, Dr. Ayo Akinyenlure, in a statement in Abuja, said “due to pollution of people’s environment, the court levied the oil firm  $1.8 as compensation and punitive damages.”

He also urged the oil firm to pay the punitive damages assessed by NOSDRA accordingly. This settlemen, he saidt can be made in earnest by its management as a partner in progress with the government.
 
Explaining further, he stressed, if multinational oil companies implement it in earnest without any further delay, it would also go a long way to alleviate the suffering of the people of the region.
 
“Government would not tolerate any act of impunity from SNEPCO who polluted our environment and means of livelihood without clean up, restoration, and payment of adequate compensation.”
 
“People are dying of hunger on daily basis since the occurrence of Bonga Oil Spillage seven years ago. We urge Shell to obey the court order by accelerating the payment process of $3.8 compensation,” he added.