Fishermen Want $3.6bn From Shell Over Bonga Oil Spill

Artisanal Fishermen Association of Nigeria (ARFAN) has called on the government to prevail on Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), to pay the $3.6 billion fine imposed on it by oil industry regulators for the 2011 Bonga oilfield spill.

Coordinator of ARFAN in the Niger Delta, Rev. Samuel Ayadi stated this in an interview with NAN in Yenagoa.

According to NAN, on December 20, 2011, during loading of crude at Bonga fields within OML 118 situated 120 kilometres off the Atlantic coastline, the export line ruptured and discharged crude oil into the sea.

The export line spewed about 40,000 barrels (6.4 million litres) of crude oil into the sea, according to a joint report by National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and SNEPCO.

Ayadi further appealed to the federal government to prevail on Shell to obey the courts and pay a $3.6 bn imposed by regulators for the Bonga spill incident adding that the compensation would ensure that fishermen thrown out of business would recover.

Ayadi noted that having complied with a regulatory order by NOSDRA to pull out of fishing to avoid catching contaminated fish that could compromise public health, they deserved to be indemnified for the loss of income whilst the clean-up lasted.

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NODRA had in March 2015 imposed the fine on Shell for discharging 40,000 barrels of crude into the Atlantic Ocean on Dec. 20, 2011.

The fine comprised a $1.8 billion as compensation for the damages done to natural resources and consequential loss of income by the affected shoreline communities as well as punitive damage of $1.8 bn.

Following a legal action instituted by Shell, at a Federal High Court in Lagos, Trial judge, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun on June 20, 2018, dismissed the suit challenging the imposing of $3.6 bn fine on it by NOSDRA.

The fishermen impacted by the December 20, 2011 spill from the Bonga Oilfields applauded the judiciary for the judgment which upheld the fine but regretted that the judgment was yet to be complied with.

Ayadi noted that the fishermen had suffered untold hardship fishing at the nation’s territorial waters since 2011 when an equipment failure from the Bonga Offshore field operated by SNEPC discharged some 40,000 barrels of crude into the waters.

They further urged the Federal Government to leverage on its successes in containing the COVID-19 Pandemic to avert another lockdown in the new year noting that they were yet to recover from the adverse impact of the 2020 lockdown on the fisheries sector and lamented that they were excluded from the palliatives given to the agric sector to guarantee food security.