NAIJAFEED

Friday, December 18, 2015

Shell facing tens of billions in damages over oil spills in Nigeria

A Dutch appeals court has ruled that Royal Dutch Shell can be held liable for oil spills at its subsidiary in Nigeria, potentially opening the way for other compensation claims against the multinational.

Judges in The Hague ordered Shell to make available to the court documents that might shed light on the cause of the oil spills and whether leading managers were aware of them.

A lower Dutch court in 2013 had found that Shell's Dutch-based parent company could not be held liable for leakages of oil at its Nigerian subsidiary.

The legal dispute dates back to 2008 when four Nigerian farmers and campaign group Friends of the Earth filed suit against the oil company in the Netherlands, where its global headquarters is based.

"Shell can be taken to court in the Netherlands for the effects of the oil spills," the court ruling stated. "Shell is also ordered to provide access to documents that could shed more light on the cause of the leaks."

The case will continue to be heard in March 2016.

Judge Hans van der Klooster said the court had also found that it "has jurisdiction in the case against Shell and its subsidiary in Nigeria".

Shell's Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC), said: "We are disappointed the Dutch court has determined it should assume international jurisdiction over SPDC.

"We believe allegations concerning Nigerian plaintiffs in dispute with a Nigerian company, over issues which took place within Nigeria, should be heard in Nigeria."

Shell has always blamed sabotage for the leaks, which under Nigerian law would mean it is not liable to pay compensation. But the Dutch court said: "It is too early to assume that the leaks were caused by sabotage."

In January 2013, the district court in The Hague ruled that one of the farmers in the original suit was eligible for compensation from Shell's Nigerian division for spills on his land in the Niger Delta, the heart of the country's oil industry.

The farmer appealed over whether the parent company should also be liable.

Friends of the Earth Netherlands director Geert Ritsema said Friday's ruling meant the three other farmers could proceed with claims for compensation for lost income resulting from spills.

"There are 6,000km of Shell pipelines and thousands of people living along them in the Niger Delta," he said. "Other people in Nigeria can bring cases and that could be tens of billions of euros in damages."

In a separate case, Shell agreed in January to pay £55m in an out-of-court compensation for two oil spills in Nigeria in 2008 after agreeing a settlement with the affected community in the Delta.

The Telegraph

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Video - Anti-Boko Haram force short of finances

Plans for a multinational force to tackle Boko Haram are in trouble. Thousands of troops from countries including Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon were to team up to fight the ISIL-affiliated group. But the Nigerian presidency, says there's no money to pay for the force.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Calls for investigation after Nigerian military attack muslim group

Human rights advocates have called for an investigation following the Nigerian army's raid on a Shiite sect in which hundreds of people were reportedly killed.

Details of the weekend violence in Zaria have been slow to emerge, with the three attacked areas of the northern town on lockdown as late as Tuesday, with no one allowed to enter or leave.

Amnesty International said in a statement late Tuesday that the shooting of members of the Shiite group in Zaria "must be urgently investigated ... and anyone found responsible for unlawful killings must be brought to justice."

"Whilst the final death toll is unclear, there is no doubt of that there has been a substantial loss of life at the hands of the military," said M.K. Ibrahim, director of Amnesty International, Nigeria.

The bloodshed was yet another blow to Africa's most populous nation, already beset by a 6-year-old insurgency waged by Boko Haram, a violent Islamic group which is at odds with the Shiites and others who oppose its extremist views.

Spokesman Ibrahim Musa of the Shiite Islamic Movement in Nigeria said soldiers on Monday carried away about 200 bodies from around the home of the head of the sect, Ibraheem Zakzaky — who was himself badly wounded and whose whereabouts have not been disclosed by the authorities — and hundreds more corpses were in the mortuary. Human rights activists said hundreds of people, perhaps as many as 1,000, were killed.

The army said troops attacked sites in Zaria after 500 Shiites blocked the convoy of Nigeria's army chief, and tried to kill him on Saturday. A report from the military police said some Shiites were crawling through tall grass toward Gen. Tukur Buratai's vehicle "with the intent to attack the vehicle with (a) petrol bomb" while others "suddenly resorted to firing gunshots from the direction of the mosque."

In a statement Monday, the army said there was "loss of lives as a result of the Shiite group members blocking roads and not allowing other passers-by to go about their lawful businesses and activities," and added that "as soon as order is restored ... the police will conduct an enquiry and the public will be informed."

Chidi Odinkalu of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission called the attacks "a massacre." The army said it has asked the rights commission to investigate the alleged assassination attempt on the army chief.

Odinkalu told The Associated Press that Zakzaky suffered four bullet wounds and that one of the sect leader's wives was killed in raids that began Saturday and ended Monday morning. He was quoting the family doctor. Two of Zakzaky's sons also were killed and one was wounded, according to Musa.

Odinkalu and other human rights activists said there are hundreds of bodies at the mortuary of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital on the outskirts of Zaria.

"Citizens must ask, who ordered this carnage?" Odinkalu tweeted.

Outraged Nigerians took to social media to condemn "trigger-happy troops" and "extra-judicial killings."

Iran, seen as the guardian of the Shiite Muslim faith, condemned the killings.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. Iran state TV said Rouhani told Buhari he expects the Nigerian government to compensate families of the dead and injured victims.

Hundreds of Shiites protested in front of the Nigerian embassies in the Iranian and Indian capitals on Tuesday.

Nigeria's Shiites, a movement of millions started 37 years ago by Zakzaky, who dresses in the robes and turban of an Iranian ayatollah, often have clashed with police and other security forces over their unlawful blocking of major roads to hold religious processions.

Nigeria's military is infamous for its excesses. In 2009, Nigerian armed forces attacked Boko Haram's headquarters and killed about 700 people, including its leader.

The Shiites two weeks ago suffered a suicide bombing in a procession that killed 22 people. Boko Haram, a Salafist group, claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened to "wipe out" the Shiites opposed to its radical vision of Islam.

AP

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Video - Islamic movement in Nigeria says army attacked defenseless people

More details are emerging of this weekend's clash between the Nigerian army and a minority Muslim group in the country's north. The army claims the group, known as the Islamic Movement, tried to assassinate its chief of staff. The group's denied that and says the army killed hundreds of its followers. A local hospital says it has at least 60 bodies in its morgue.