As an environmental lawyer, Chima Williams has won multiple precedent-setting cases in the last 20 years. One involved a court declaration that gas flaring in the Niger Delta violated the constitution. Another centred on a decades-long effort by a Rivers community to have Agip, the Italian multinational now known as Eni, remove its facility blamed for flooding.
“That case was the first of its kind, the legality of gas flaring in Nigeria, something that nobody would ever have considered that can be litigated upon because for most Nigerians it’s not a normal thing,” Mr Williams said in an interview. The company paid N4.5 million to the community, constructed a four-kilometre road there, in addition to upgrading its health centre and building a small electricity gas turbine.
Shell won the first round in 2013, prompting Mr Williams to organise an appeal. While waiting for the hearing, his legal team obtained documents revealing that Shell was aware of the poor management of the Goi pipeline and that it needed replacing. It meant the company had lied in court.
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