Nearly 14,000 Nigerians from the oil-producing Niger Delta have filed a compensation claim against Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, at the London High Court over the loss of livelihoods and environmental destruction. 

In a statement released on Thursday, the UK law firm Leigh Day said it had filed claims on behalf of 11,317 people and 17 institutions including churches and schools from Ogale community in Niger Delta. It said the claim from Ogale adds to one brought by members of the Bille community in 2015. That brings the total number of villagers seeking compensation from Shell to 13,652.

“The next stage in the case is for a case management hearing to be set in Spring 2023, ahead of the full trial which is likely to occur the following year,” the statement read.

The claims say oil spills resulting from Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta have destroyed farms, and contaminated drinking water.

In 2021, the UK Supreme Court allowed a group of 42,500 Nigerian farmers and fishermen to sue Shell at British courts after years of oil spills had contaminated land and groundwater. The judges said at the time there was an arguable case that Shell was responsible because it exercised significant control over its Nigeria subsidiary SPDC.

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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/02/02/697467/Nigeria-Shell-London-Court-Leigh-Da