Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-3240 (Paper) ISSN 2224-3259 (Online) Vol.40, 2015 73 Imposing Liability for Oil Spill Clean-Ups in Nigeria: An Examination of the Role of the Polluter-Pays Principle Ayobami Olaniyan 1 Department of Public and International Law, College of Law, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. Abstract Oil spills lead to pollution of water and land in the surrounding environment. The health and the farmland of the people living around the area of the spills are also adversely affected. Numerous laws are usually in place to deal with the issue of oil spills but often times some of these laws are not totally enforced or the institutions set up to deal with the spills are inefficient. Oil spills cannot be left unabated. The problem of oil spills have to be dealt with in order to avoid the devastating effects of oil spills on the environment. In a place like the Niger-Delta in Nigeria where oil spills are rampant, an effective means of curbing the menace have to be thought out to deal with spills. Oil theft, pipeline vandalism and sabotage are the order of the day and thus, oil spills are a recurring decimal in the Niger-Delta. The question then is can the polluter-pays principle play a role in the prevention and control of oil spills especially in Nigeria? This article seeks to answer this question by examining whether the Polluter Pays Principle, an international environmental law principle, can act as a deterrent to oil spills especially deliberate oil spills. This paper examines the tenets of the polluter-pays principle, the deterrence theory, challenges militating against the prevention and control of oil spills in Nigeria and then relevant recommendations and conclusion as regards the role of the polluter-pays principle in preventing and controlling oil spills are put forward. Keywords: Polluter Pays-Principle, Oil Spills, Liability for Oil spills, Niger-Delta, Nigeria 1. Introduction The adverse effects of a single oil spill incident are often immense and unquantifiable. One key effect of an oil spill is pollution of the immediate environment. The extent of pollution of that environment depends on the amount of oil spilled into the environment during that incident; the response made towards clean-up of the oil spill and the quantity of oil that reaches the surrounding land. The type of environment the oil is spilled into also affects the magnitude of the harm. For instance, an oil spill into a trans-boundary river would most likely cause greater harm than a spill into a bare land. Also, in a situation where several barrels of oil were spilled into the sea and the spill is not immediately curtailed or the oil well that exploded is not immediately capped, the liability of the responsible party is greater and the harm caused to environment is usually colossal. 2 The Niger Delta area in Nigeria is bathed with regular dose of oil spills. 3 The causes of the spills there is often times pipeline vandalism or sabotage of oil installations. Operational oil spills also do occur there. Militants and oil thieves are usually constantly attacking oil installations often times to steal the oil and make money out of selling it. The fact that the oil spill was either accidental or not is not the main issue here. This is because it is an established principle of international environmental law that the polluter should pay for the harm he caused to the environment. When oil spillages occur, certain issues arise which are very important: the need to identify the responsible party who caused the oil spill; the extent to which the polluter/responsible party is responsible for the oil spill; the extent of the damage caused to the environment and measures to be taken to prevent future occurrences of events of similar nature. The polluter-pays principle thus holds someone responsible for the damage caused to the environment and prevents a situation where nobody wants to claim responsibility for an oil spill. The question whether the polluter-pays principle serves as a deterrent to oil spills is very important. A key reason for this is that, there is a need to reduce and prevent the occurrence of oil spills in Nigeria and especially in the Niger-Delta region. This is because the devastating effects of oil spills on the environment are usually great and are not matters that can be treated with 1 Associate Research Fellow & Assistant Editor (Natural Resources, Energy & Environment), Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES), Afe Babalola University, Nigeria; LL.M (Aberdeen); BL; LL.B (Ife). E-mail: ajolaniyan@abuad.edu.ng. 2 A relevant example here is the Deep Water Horizon accident that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. 3 For instance, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited regularly reports on a monthly basis oil spill incidents in the Niger-Delta (Nigeria) on its website <http://www.shell.com.ng/environmentsociety/environment-tpkg/oil-spills.html> accessed 15 July 2015).