The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has threatened to sue Shell over violation of environmental laws.
Addressing journalists in Benin City during a press conference, Executive Director (ERA/FoEN) , Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo said the (ERA/FoEN) has thrown its weight behind plans by friends of the Earth Netherlands to take shell to court.
Ojo said: “By the day it is becoming evident that Shell may be running from its mess but cannot evade justice. The plans by friends of the Earth, Netherlands to take Shell to court will further embolden impacted communities in the Niger Delta to institute more cases to demand that their lives seized and ruined by Shell’s activities are taken back.”
Ojo added that the ground breaking case, if successful would significantly limit Shell’s investments in oil and gas globally by requiring them to comply with global climate targets noted that the case is supported by Friends of the Earth International, which campaigns for climate justice for people across the world impacted by dirty energy and climate change.
Lamenting the ruins caused by Shell’s activities, Ojo said: “In Nigeria, according to the UNEP report on Assessment of Ogoni (2011) Shell is guilty of polluting community lands, community waters and gassing communities through gas flaring which is a major contributor to climate change.”
Ojo said that aside the widely known Ogoni pollution which Shell is responsible for, it still continues to flare gas in contravention of a High Court judgment in Nigeria in 2005 that makes gas flaring illegal in Iwherekan and other Nigerian communities.
He added that Friends of the Earth case is unique because it is the first climate lawsuit demanding that a fossil fuel company acts on climate change, rather than seeking compensation.
