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Nigerian Court Orders Shell .....

[Gulo19]

NOW THIS IS INTERESTING. IF THOSE SHELL BUGG@RS WOULD JUST DO THE RIGHT THING....CONSIDERING HOW MUCH THEY HAVE AT STAKE IN NIGERIA... Nigerian Court Orders Shell to Pay $1.5 Billion to Ijaw Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) Friday, February 24, 2006 A Nigerian court on Friday ordered Shell to pay $1.5 billion in compensation to Ijaw communities in the Niger Delta where Shell has oil facilities. The Ijaw took the case to court after Shell refused to abide by a 2001 parliamentary resolution ordering Shell to pay the money as compensation for environmental degradation in the Delta region. In his ruling Friday, Justice Okechukwu Okeke said the company was duty-bound by the earlier parliamentary decision to pay the compensation. He noted that Shell and the Ijaw communities had agreed at the time to abide by the resolution of the parliamentary committee set up on the issue. Shell, which has had mining operations in the region since 1956, was represented at the federal court in Port Harcourt by solicitor Richard Akinjide, Nigeria's former attorney-general and minister of justice, who said Shell would appeal the judgment. Members of the Ijaw community present in the court said Shell would not be allowed to continue oil operations in the Niger Delta if it refused to pay the compensation.