A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Mobil Oil Company to pay N90 billion in damages to Ibeno oil communities of Akwa Ibom State for economic losses suffered from oil spills.
The spills were said to have occurred between 2000 and 2010 during which rivers and lands were polluted leading to loss of animals and plants.
Delivering judgement in a joint suit filed by Ibeno villages, Justice Taiwo Taiwo held that both the NNPC and Mobil were liable for oil spills over the years during explorations.
He held that the two defendants were negligent, reckless and uncaring in the ways and manners they left the people of the oil communities to their fates even after inflicting pains and economic injuries on them.
The court condemned the NNPC for being interested in revenue generation alone at the expense of those whose land and water have been rendered unprofitable for agricultural purposes as their means of livelihood.
Justice Taiwo rejected the evidence of the witnesses called by Mobil describing their oral and documented evidence as “unreliable and questionable.”
According to the Judge, the witnesses were evasive and hostile while being cross examined by the plaintiffs’ lawyer adding that no court or record will give probative value to the company’s defence.
In all, Justice Taiwo ordered the two defendants to pay victims of the spill N90 billion as damages.
