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From Joe Obukata Ogbodu, Warri
Shell Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STATSCO) and Britannia Steamship Insurance Association Limited, both of United Kingdom, have been accused of diverting a whopping $1 billion insurance indemnity claim meant for victims of the 2011 Bonga oil spill in the Niger Delta.
The $1 billion insurance policy, allegedly meant to provide relief to affected communities, was concealed by STATSCO and SNEPCO from Nigerian regulatory authorities, including NOSDRA and NIMASA.
Executive Director of Oil Spill Victims Vanguard (OSPIVV), an NGO advocating for oil spill victims’ rights, Mr. Harrison Jalla, made the allegation, yesterday, at a press conference in Effurun, near Warri, Delta State.
Addressing newsmen of the development, Jalla, displaying various documents, said that they got wind of the insurance policy with certificate number 0492900, for the pollution indemnity of MT Nothia with IMO Number 9399480, through a whistle blowing.
According to him, the ship brought by STATSCO to load at the SNEPCO Bonga FPSO, was insured against pollution for $1 billion but SNEPCO concealed the information and surreptitiously denied victims their rightful compensation when the ship eventually polluted the environment.
He said that the pollution indemnity insurance claim was in case there was a pollution during rhe loading of rhe crude which was the standard but for reason yet to be fathom “they concealed and diverted the fund collected from the insurance company”.
He said that in a bid to fight for their rights, the victims had filed a suit against Shell Group and Britannia Steamship Insurance Association Ltd in April 2022.
According to him, the claimants in Suit No: FHC/WR/CS/19/2022 at the Federal High Court sitting in Warri, are set to receive a judgment awarding $1 billion in Insurance indemnity pollution claims in their favor as rightful beneficiaries.
Jalla, said that the lawsuit aims to recover the diverted compensation for the rightful beneficiaries – the victims and communities impacted by the Bonga oil spill.
He recalls that the Niger Delta communities suffered severe pollution, the worst in their history, due to gross negligence during the loading of MT Nothia by both STATSCO and 5NEPCo.
Jalla, alleged that instead of compensating the victims, the companies conspired with Britannia Steamship Insurance Association Limited to divert and appropriate the $1 billion meant for the rightful beneficiaries of the 2011 Bonga oil spill.
He said that although Nigerian regulatory authorities, including NOSDRA and NIMASA had fined SNEPCO $3,600,191,206.00 billion and $6.5 billion respectively as compensation and punitive damage for the spillage, they were unaware of the $1 billion insurance indemnity pollution claim, maintaining that the lawsuit by the victims for compensation is different from the demand for the remittance of $1Billion insurance claim.
