Shell agrees to pay fishing community in Niger Delta $84m over oil spill

15,600 fishermen will receive $3,300 each while the Bodo community will receive $30m for losses they encountered after two oil spills took place in 2008 and 2009.

“Right from the outset, we’ve accepted responsibility for the two deeply regrettable operational spills in Bodo,” said the Managing Director of Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary SPDC.

Even though Shell maintains that the overwhelming majority of oil spills in the area are caused by “the scourge of oil theft and illegal refining”, it admitted that in Bodo community, the spills were a result of operational failure of the pipelines.

On why Shell had not compensated the community since 2009, the company said moves to do so were hampered “by divisions within the community”.

A burn victim following yet another oil spill and fire in Bodo community Source: The ScoopNG

The terms of the deal are even more remarkable when one considers that initially Shell wanted to offer as little as $6,000 to the entire community. Now, in addition to the cash payment, the oil giant has pledged to clean up the Bodo Creek over the next few months.

Lawyer Martyn Day who represents the claimants, told the BBC that it was “deeply disappointing that Shell took six years to take this case seriously, and to recognise the true extent of the damage these spills caused to the environment and to those who rely on it for their livelihood”.

Source: BBC