The China Mail - Nigerian court dismisses suit challenging Shell's divestment

Bubaraye Dakolo, the monarch of Ekpetiama kingdom in southern Bayelsa state, had taken the British energy giant to court after it announced conclusion of the sale of its Nigerian onshore assets in March 2025.

The case sought to block Shell's exit from Nigeria's onshore oil sector, without cleaning up decades of pollution.

More than 40 years of extensive oil spills and gas flaring had caused severe environmental damage that destroyed fishing and farming livelihoods in parts of the Niger delta region, which accounts for most of Nigeria's oil production.

Farming and fishing communities in the Niger Delta, the heartland of Nigeria's crude production, have borne the brunt of pollution.

But a Federal High Court judge in Bayelsa, Ayo Emmanuel, ruled that the suit was "premature and incompetent," adding that the allegations against the oil giant were statute-barred under Nigerian law.

"The statement of claim predominantly seeks reliefs for environmental damages, negligence, and the halting of commercial asset divestments," the judge said. "It does not qualify as a fundamental rights action."

A four-year-long investigation by the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission — a panel of international experts and prominent figures — concluded in 2023 that it would cost $12 billion to clean up Bayelsa state.

Bayelsa is where oil was first discovered in Africa in the 1950s, and where companies, including Shell, have operated for decades.

Shell is "pleased" with the ruling, a company spokesperson told AFP, blaming the "vast majority" of pollution in the region on "large-scale oil theft, sabotage and illegal refining carried out by organised criminal gangs who drill into pipelines to steal oil".

But it added that its subsidiary alongside its government partner worked to clean up spills from its facilities "regardless of the cause".

Dakolo's lawyer said they will appeal the ruling.

"We shall fight this matter to the utmost end and are already looking forward to the Supreme Court," Chukwudi Uguru told journalists after the court session. "We are not discouraged."

Shell then owned 30 percent shares in a joint venture with a government-owned company, TotalEnergies and Agip.

In March 2025 the multinational divested from the business, selling its shares - to Renaissance Africa Energy, a consortium of Nigerian indigenous oil companies.

Shell remains a major investor elsewhere in Nigeria having announced earlier this year a potential $20 billion in foreign direct investment in a gas project.

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