Shell to pay £55m for Nigeria oil spills

A community in Nigeria will receive compensation of £55 million because of oil spills that caused environmental damage to the local area. Each member of the community affected by the oil spill […]

A community in Nigeria will receive compensation of £55 million because of oil spills that caused environmental damage to the local area.

Each member of the community affected by the oil spill will get roughly 600,000 Nigerian Naira (£2,200), said their lawyers, the London-based firm Leigh Day.

It comes after a three-year legal battle in the High Court in London.

In 2008 two oil spills took place in the Niger Delta region, affecting thousands of hectares of mangrove Bodo community.

Admitting the spills were “deeply regrettable”, the Managing Director of Shell’s Nigerian business SPDC, Mutiu Sunmonu said: “We’ve always wanted to compensate the community fairly and we are pleased to have reached agreement.”

Around £35 million of the money will go towards individuals who made a compensation claim for losses arising from the spills. The rest will go towards the benefit of the whole Bodo community.

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