On May 10, Chief Conference Kalama, Chief Dickson Bekinbo, Prince Godsday Dakoru returned to court for further hearing to their suit against Orient Petroleum Development Company. Raymond Smith representative of Greenpeace was also in the court. The plaintiffs wanted the oil firm to clean-up the pollution in their communities, repair and maintain defective pipelines to prevent further damages, and pay compensations to them for the destruction of their means of livelihood. The firm had consistently denied responsibility and refused to clean-up the sites. It also refused to pay compensations.
“Through its action, Orient has demonstrated disdain for the wellbeing of communities that suffer due to imparts of its reckless exploitation of oil in Niger Delta. The company knew for a long time its pipeline was damaged but did not do anything even when it could have stopped the leaking pipes,” Raymond Smith, the representative of Greenpeace in Nigeria testified in the court.
The case was filed in 2007 and had passed through a lot of legal hurdles, ostensibly set up by Orient. The suit had also gone through several judges due to transfers, and started afresh severally.
“The communities were badly contaminated from spills which occurred in the communities in 2007. The pollution damaged 43 fish ponds, killed all the fish and rendered the ponds useless. Once-rich alluvial soils of our community are no longer viable for crops as more than a half-century of oil production and related damages continue to take a toll. Our fishing grounds have also been destroyed. We had to move away from our communities because if we caught fish and opened it up, we found oil; if we harvested cassava; we found it soaked with crude oil. The odor of crude oil was omnipresent and everything from drinking water to food was tainted with crude oil. Since then, we have been living by God’s grace and on the help of Good Samaritans,” Chief Conference Kalama said during cross examination.
“The company had paid its part for the cleaning up of Niger Delta which amounted to more than 50 billion naira. There were 198 oil spills at Orient facilities in the Niger Delta in 2007, releasing 26,000 barrels of oil into the region; only 37 incidents were caused by operational failure. But the affected communities insisted that the number of barrels spilled from operational failure as reported by Orient was a far-cry from the actual amount of oil spilled and made ridiculous and outrageous
claims,” Paul Odion, Orient lawyer leading a team of Orient lawyers complained.
“However, oil pollution is a problem in Nigeria, affecting the daily lives of people in the Niger Delta. The vast majority of oil pollution is caused by oil thieves and illegal refiners. Their operations cause major environmental and economic damage, and are really responsible for the tragedy in the Niger Delta,” Paul Odion continued.
“For Orient, no oil spill is acceptable and my client is working hard to improve its performance on operational spills. In the past years, we have seen a decline in operational spill volumes. These spills, however, were caused by sabotage and we are asking the court, quite rightly, to dismiss the claims. Orient has made great efforts to raise awareness of the issue with the government of Nigeria, international bodies like the United Nations, the media and non-governmental organizations. My client will continue to be at the forefront of discussions to find solutions,” Paul Odion concluded.
“A total of 16,083 pipeline breaks were recorded within the total of 10 years, while 398 pipeline breaks were caused by operational failure, the activities of unpatriotic vandals accounted for 15,685. The incessant attacks on the Trans Forcados Pipeline, (TFP) has rendered it impossible to evacuate crude oil/condensate from some Orient operated facilities,” deputy managing director said when he was cross examined.
“The NNPC has spent over $42.952m to execute a two-phase repair work which started in September 2007 on 74 damaged points in System 2C-1 Escravos-Warri Crude Oil Pipelines to enable the startup of the Warri and Kaduna refineries. 8,105 breaks were recorded along the System 2E within the period representing about 50.3% of the total number of petroleum products pipeline breaks in the country. The attacks left the NNPC with a cost of 78.15 billion naira in product losses and pipeline repairs,” the group managing director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) told the court.
“The system 2A product pipeline route which conveys products from Warri-Benin-Suleja/Ore depots rank second on the scale of pipeline break points with 3,259 cases representing about 20.2% of the total volume of products pipeline breaks in Nigeria. The figure also comes with a loss of over 20.39 billion naira in products and pipeline repairs.
“The System 2B which carries products from the Atlas Cove-Mosimi-Satellite-Ibadan-Ilorin depots recorded 2,440 breaks leading to a loss of over 73.6 billion in products and pipeline repairs,” the group managing director of NNPC testified.
“Niger Delta residents have never stopped complaining about the pollution of their farmland and waterways. We are ready to collaborate with the communities to hold the oil companies accountable for environmental damages because there is still a lot of oil lying around. These communities need to be cleaned up and compensated for the damage to their environment and their means of livelihood. Oil companies in Nigeria should adhere to the same standard as in the developed world,” Greenpeace representative, Raymond Smith said.
The court held that Orient broke the law by not repairing leaks that destroyed the water for fishermen and fish farmers and the lands of the farmers.
“Orient wanted to pretend this was sabotage, but even it is, it is its responsibility to clean up the environment and pay compensation to those affected. This is why it has to pay something to the plaintiffs. I want to leave it to the company and the plaintiff to negotiate the amount, but where they fail to agree, this court will have to determine the compensation,” the Judge ruled.
This was the first time that an oil company was being held responsible for failing to prevent sabotage.
“This win has set a precedent, as it will be an important step that multi-nationals can be made more answerable for the damage they do in developing countries. We anticipate other communities in the Niger Delta will demand that oil companies pay for the assault on their environment,” Raymond Smith told Tosin Thomas, outside the court after the judgment.
“Orient will negotiate the amount of damages with the plaintiffs. And it’ll pay compensation. We didn’t lose the case. It was not operational failure,” Paul Odion told Tosin Thomas.
“It is sweet victory since over 50 years of oil exploration and exploitation in the Niger Delta. I think this will be a lesson for Orient and other oil companies not to damage people’s means of livelihood,” Chief Dickson Bekinbo said.
The ruling had made it possible for other aggrieved Nigerians who suffered losses due to oil companies’ activities to seek judicial redress.
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