Injurious law? In search of justice in the Niger Delta

The Royal Courts of Justice in London recently witnessed the latest round of efforts by communities in the Niger Delta to seek justice and remediation for the harms and devastation wrought by the more than sixty years of the oil extractive industry. The fact that this and other recent cases have been brought against Shell in the UK courts highlights the intertwined political, economic and legal spheres of influence between Britain and Nigeria, from colonial to postcolonial times. For almost three weeks between 13th February and 7th March 2025 at the King’s Bench, Royal Courts of Justice in London, Mrs Justice May heard the preliminary issues stage of the case brought by Bille and Ogale communities of the Niger Delta against Royal Dutch Shell (Shell), the UK parent company of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria. This is the latest stage of this case which was first filed in 2015 by the solicitors Leigh Day for the harms endured by these communities caused by more than 40 oil spills, which they date from 1989 for the Ogale community, and between 2011 and 2013 for the Bille community. This case has gone through numerous challenges and legal gymnastics as Shell has sought to prevent it being heard or its scope narrowed in the UK courts. Last year, 2024, saw the communities win a landmark victory which meant they could progress to the recent preliminary issues stage, with the full trial scheduled for 2026.

The fact that the Bille and Ogale communities hail from Ogonilandbrings to the forefront the high cost that this particular part of Nigeria continues to pay in bringing to international attention their devastating environmental plight. This is one of the earliest areas of Nigeria from the 1950s onwards that experienced industrial scale oil extraction for global markets. It is also the homeland of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the environmental and human rights activist brutally executed in 1995 as part of the Ogoni 9 under the Sani Abacha regime. In their 1999 report, Human Rights Watch documented the multi-dimensional harms endured by communities in the Niger Delta, and the entrenched collusion of interests between the courts, politicians and the international oil producing companies operating in the Niger Delta. Fast forward thirty years since Ken Saro-Wiwa’s death and I was struck as I sat in the public gallery of the courtroom listening to the preliminary issues trial at the Royal Courts of Justice, how the law provides both a fragile and rigid route to justice. This stage of the trial as the name suggests, preceded the full trial and heard testimony from independent experts on Nigerian law. The two expert witnesses although instructed separately by the defendant and claimants were nevertheless expected to testify, as per the rules of the court, as independent non-partisan experts. What was noticeably absent was testimony from the communities, which will only be heard at the full trial in 2026. It was left to the almost daily attendance of His Royal Highness King Okpabi of Ogale to visually remind us of the communities he represents, through his dignified silent presence.

Access to justice is a challenge for ordinary citizens in the difficult juridical space in Nigeria skewed to favour major oil companies. These companies have access to and can mobilise greater resources to mount an effective defence, which was an important point raised by barristers acting on behalf of the Bille and Ogale communities. They argued forcibly against the danger of collective punishment which is frequently the practical outcome for communities. This occurs when courts overwhelmingly side with oil companies who cite in their defence, third party interference to their pipelines as the cause of oil spills. This is the argument most frequently brought in cases tried in Nigeria to the detriment of communities, as it closes routes to compensation and remediation if even one community member is found guilty of criminal activity. The most recent comprehensive legislation passed to govern this industry sector, the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 which has been hailed as a state-of-the-art piece of legislation, has in fact doubled down on the principle of collective punishment. The colonial roots of a milieu that favours the extractive industries over indigenous communities can be traced in the pages of the Mapping Injury Exhibition on this website. From template treaties that placed a duty of care for the machinery and possessions of colonial traders on indigenous communities, to maps and stamps, where monarchy and rapacious extraction were celebrated while the humanity of the exploited was erased. One ponders how extraction and collective punishment after more than 140 years of legal precedent, that span the colonial and postcolonial eras, persists. It is left to ask and further investigate if the law is injurious or provides a mechanism for repair to the citizens and populations it serves to protect.