Expanding the Frontiers of Locus Standi in Public-Interest Oil-Related Litigation in Nigeria: An Examination of Centre for Oil Pollution V. Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation

Abstract

The decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the recent case of Centre for Oil Pollution v Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (2018) LPELR-50830(SC) appears to have signalled a jettisoning of the restrictive application of locus standi in the context of public-interest litigation instituted to protect the environment. The markedly liberal approach adopted by the Supreme Court in the case, which placed less emphasis on the sufficient interest/personal injury test and more emphasis on the need to protect the environment, has expanded the frontiers of locus standi in public interest environmental litigation. Against this background, this article examines the decision in Centre for Oil Pollution v Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation with a view to assessing the extent to which the liberalisation of the locus standi rule has opened up access to environmental justice in Nigeria. The article finds that the Supreme Court’s decision in Centre for Oil Pollution v Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation potentially empowers public-spirited individuals and relevant Non-Governmental Organisations to protect the environment by means of litigation. Nevertheless, the article concludes that despite the laudable expansion of the locus standi rule as seen in Centre for Oil Pollution v Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the case fell short of providing a reasonably easy pathway to environmental justice for poor villagers. This is because public-interest litigation of the kind seen in Centre for Oil Pollution v Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation can offer no monetary compensation to the impoverished inhabitants of communities who bear the brunt of the environmental degradation resulting from oil spills.