Farmers in Ogoniland in Nigeria have taken up issues with a leading multinational oil company operating in the country. In a statement by HyoJin Park of A Growing Culture, “for our first dispatch of the year, we bring you a battle of David vs. Goliath. 13,000 farmers and fisherfolk from the Ogale and Bille communities have been battling the fossil fuel giant, Shell, for ten years. Today, they are finally getting their landmark case heard in the UK High Court”.
The statement disclosed that since the 1980s, Shell had allegedly been poisoning Ogoniland’s air, water and land through hundreds of oil spills while raking in billions. With their territory devastated, farmers and fisherfolks face starvation.
Women in the community have been experiencing severe reproductive health issues with many babies being born with birth defects. The supposed clean-up operation had been riddled with problems and corruption while the average life expectancy in the Niger delta is 10 years lower than the rest of Nigeria.
The plaintiffs of the Ogale and Bille communities have reportedly been dying while Shell continues to drag its feet through the maze of the British legal system. “And now, Shell is selling off its operations in Nigeria. Activists believe the divestment is an effort to avoid accountability.
What makes this a historic case? If the communities win, it’ll be a legal precedent for a parent company being held responsible for the actions of its subsidiaries, even if they are based in a different country. This is extremely rare and has happened only one other time, in a Dutch court also against Shell!
“Who should cover this story? Climate journalists interested in Loss and Damage, environmental justice, legal cases. Health journalists interested in the impacts of pollution especially on reproductive health. Who can you speak to? We can connect you to activists, who are at the frontline of this fight”, Park said.
Those identified in the advocacy include Akpobari Celestine, indigenous activist, who is the team lead at People Advancement Centre and the National Coordinator of the Ogoni Solidarity Forum; and Friday Barilule, climate activist and Director of Lekeh Development Foundation, saying the fight for justice had only begun and that this story deserves attention throughout the legal proceedings.
