"Ikebiri reach settlement with company, Niger Delta still awaits justice", 28 May 2019.

In 2017 the Nigerian community of Ikebiri launched a court case against the Italian oil company ENI demanding clean-up of and compensation for an oil spill caused in 2010 by the failure of ENI’s pipeline. Friends of the Earth Europe and Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA) have been supporting the community in this unprecedented court case which was started in Italy in January 2018.

Being sued in their home country has forced the company to deal with the damage they inflicted on the community. They have offered an out-of-court settlement and after some months of negotiations parties have now concluded those discussions. ENI committed to overhaul existing electricity generator sets, renovate the community’s health centre, construct 4 kilometres of concrete road and provide electricity directly to the Ikebiri communities.

Friends of the Earth Europe and ERA are satisfied that the court case brought by the community against ENI has obliged the company to finally respond substantively to the community's demand for justice. However, the responsibility to clean up their oil pollution in Ikebiri and to fulfil its other commitments remains with ENI.

King Francis Ododo, Ikebiri community leader and plaintiff in the court case said

No individual community suffering from ENI’s crimes has been able to take ENI to court on an international level and get a result such as this. Only if the company keeps its promises, we have truly got justice.

The court case, has shown that the Italian courts are willing to listen to complaints regarding the activities of Italian multinationals abroad and that the way is open for further litigation of this kind...