NIGERIAN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ON TRIAL: A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE ENGLISH HIGH COURT’S DECISION IN BILLE & OGALE COMMUNITIES V SPDC

Abstract

The 2025 decision of the English High Court in Bille & Ogale Communities v Shell Plc & Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) placed Nigerian environmental justice under renewed judicial scrutiny through the application of Nigerian law. The judgment raises critical questions concerning the horizontal enforceability of constitutional and Charter-based human rights, the justiciability of environmental harm, and corporate accountability for large-scale environmental degradation. This article critically examines the Court’s conclusions that the right to life under section 33 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and rights under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights are not enforceable against private corporations, and that environmental pollution such as oil spills does not engage constitutionally protected rights. While acknowledging the constraints inherent in the application of foreign law through expert evidence, the article argues that the decision adopts an unduly narrow and formalistic interpretation of Nigerian constitutional and human rights jurisprudence. It contends that section 46 of the Constitution supports the horizontal enforcement of Chapter IV rights and that neither the text nor the purpose of section 33 limits its application to state actors, particularly where non-state conduct poses a direct threat to life. The article further challenges the Court’s reliance on Opara v SPDC, arguing that recent Supreme Court and appellate authorities, most notably Centre for Oil Pollution Watch v NNPC and Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited v Ajanaku, signal a jurisprudential shift towards recognising serious environmental harm as capable of engaging enforceable fundamental rights. It concludes that Bille & Ogale risks misrepresenting the current trajectory of Nigerian environmental and constitutional law.