Hearing on the environmental damages caused by years of oil spills in Nigeria blamed on oil company Royal Dutch Shell, has commenced in London. Britains High Court began to hear arguments on whether English courts can hear two legal claims on behalf of more than 40,000 Nigerians against Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).In March 2016, two Nigerian communities sued Shell in London over multiple oil spills in the Niger Delta. During the hearing yesterday, King Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi, a tribal chief from one of the affected communities held plastic bottles believed to contain contaminated water from his community in Ogale, in Nigerias oil-rich Niger Delta region, claiming my people are drinking this water.There are strange diseases in my communityskin diseases, people are dying sudden deaths, some people are impotent, others have low sperm count, he was quoted by AFP as saying. I can afford to buy water. But can I afford to buy for everybody' No. We are dying.A 2011 report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) found that oil spills contaminated clean water and damaged the fishing industry in Nigeriastating immediate action was needed. Shell has argued the case should be heard in Nigeria, as it involves its Nigerian subsidiary SPDC.The Anglo-Dutch oil company will use the first three days of hearings to challenge the courts jurisdiction. A spokesperson for the oil giant claimed both Bille and Ogale are areas heavily impacted by crude oil theft, pipeline sabotage and illegal refining which remain the main sources of pollution across the Niger Delta.The spokesperson added SPDC has not produced any oil or gas in Ogoniland, the region surrounding Ogale, since 1993. However, plaintiffs have argued that ageing and leaking pipelines owned by the company still run through the area.SPDC further claimed it had delivered water and healthcare to communities and was supporting the implementation of the UNEP process, which saw the launch of a $1billion (691m) clean-up operation in Ogoniland in June.The operationwhich the UN report said could be the most wide-ranging and long term oil clean-up exerciseaims to restore drinking water, land, creeks and important ecosystems such as mangroves. The UN estimated that the clean-up of Ogoniland could take up to 30 years.
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