Except urgent steps are taken, Nigeria may record a major revenue loss in the oil sector following a 2008 Rivers State High Court judgment asking Shell to forfeit the land where the Bonny crude oil terminal is located.
Should the 2008 judgment by Justice Margaret Opara of the Rivers State High Court be enforced, the country’s economy may take a turn for the worse as oil accounts for over 70 percent of revenue for the Federal Government.
And to further show its displeasure towards Shell for failing to honour the 2008 judgment, A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt had on Tuesday sentenced the Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Mr. Osagie Okunbor, and two others, to three-months imprisonment with hard labour.
Shell through a spokesman, however said it has challenged the committal order. The Bonny Oil Terminal is a critical national asset in which the Federal Government has 55 per cent interest. It receives crude oil from international and local oil companies through the Trans Niger Pipeline and the Nembe Creek Trunk Line for export.
