Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and the Bodo Community in
Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State are inching close to a
settlement in a compensation case which followed two major oil spills in
2008. About N7.5b has been offered already.
About 15,000 persons from the Bodo community sued SPDC over the
development, which occurred in 2008 for which the company had accepted
responsibility, although it insisted that the volume spilt and the
number of those who lost their livelihood as a result are exaggerated.
Both parties nonetheless commenced talks on compensation but the
talks broke down in 2012, following which the villagers filed a suit
against the oil company at a London High Court in March 2012, seeking
millions of dollars in compensation.
Sources close to the negotiators indicated that
Shell has offered N7.5 Billion as compensation to the affected persons
and the community. An official of Shell who would not discuss the figure offered however
indicated that “SPDC and the Bodo community have both committed their
full support to the clean up process currently in progress with the
support of Bert Ronhaar, the former Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria.
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