An oil services firm, Halliburton, has paid N711 million to a community in Trans Amadi, Port Harcourt in Rivers State as compensation over a major industrial pollution from the company�s facilities that affected the area in June 1996.
The payment was made almost two years after the community through its counsel, BEI Nwafor (SAN), had gone to a Port Harcourt High Court, which later ruled in its favour on December 21, 2004.
Although the court asked the firm to pay N830 million as compensation to the ACM industrial community, Halliburton refused to obey the order. It later released N711 million to the community based on the advice of the judge and the counsel in January 2005.
The community spokesperson, Chief Saro Manson, told journalists in Port Harcourt at the weekend that the money, lodged with the United Bank for Africa, had been shared among the victims.
He disclosed that the 468 persons affected by the pollution received N200,000 each, adding that the payment was done last month through the assistance of a consultant, Alhaji Mohammed Sanusi.
Manson described the exercise as transparent and successful, as no alarm was raised among the beneficiaries.
He also thanked the state Police Command for providing maximum security during the exercise, noting that the victory of the community in the litigation showed that legal process not violence was a potent means of settling disputes.