TheCable

The Ikebiri community in Bayelsa state has sued ENI, Italian oil gaint,  at a Milan court, seeking the cleanup of, and compensation for damages from an oil spill which has affected the community in the Niger Delta.

In a statement issued on Thursday by Friends of the Earth Europe and Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, the community called for adequate compensation and cleanup of an oil spill dating back to 2010, which had not been addressed. 

ENI, which operates in Nigeria through its subsidiary Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), is allegedly responsible for the spill.

“This is the first case of its kind against Italian oil giant ENI, after years of reckless exploitation in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Negligence and nonchalance from ENI and its subsidiary NAOC have left the Ikebiri community suffering from the impacts oil pollution for seven years,” Godwin Ojo of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, said.

The leak was closed in 2010, and NAOC claimed it had cleaned up the site.

But according to the community, the leaked oil in the surrounding area was simply burnt, without their consent, and to date, no adequate compensation has been offered or cleanup completed.

“Our community cannot wait any longer. We have had ENI’s pollution for too long, damaging our fishing, our farming and our lives. We are now looking to the Italian courts for justice for our people,” Francis Temi Ododo, King of the Ikebiri community said.

The communities of the Niger Delta have lived for decades with the effects of continuous oil spills on their health, the welfare and their livelihoods.

Thousands of oil spills have blighted the communities across the Niger Delta to feed the profits of ENI, Shell and other oil and gas companies, according to the organisations.