Justice O’Farrell of the High Court of Justice, King’s Bench Division, London has reserved legal proceedings of the £55m oil spill lawsuit against Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited.

The reserved judgment, which was taken on Monday by the judge on Monday and Tuesday is expected to take up to three months following the two major oil spills that occurred in 2008 in the Bodo community, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria.

Residents of Bodo community suffered two spills involving nearly half a million barrels of oil from the Bomu-Bonny Trans-Niger Pipeline, operated by SPDC, prompting the Paramount Ruler of the Bodo Community, King John Bari-Iyiedum Berebon, to condemn the act and call for justice.

“More than 17 years after these devastating oil spills took place, we hope and trust that justice will finally be delivered by the High Court and a full and thorough clean-up will be carried out.

“The horrendous oil pollution” in and around Bodo has destroyed our environment and ruined our livelihoods.

“Unless a full and thorough clean-up is ordered by the court, the lives of our people are set to be blighted for generations to come,” the monarch said.

Leigh Day solicitor, Alex Wessely, described the oil spills as by far the largest to have ever occurred worldwide and have had a devastating impact on the local environment and the people of Bodo.

“Our clients believe Shell/Renaissance has failed to properly clean up these devastating oil spills, putting the health of more than 30,000 people in the Bodo area, including many children, at severe and ongoing risk,” he said.

In 2008, Shell accepted liability for spills and agreed to a £55 million settlement for cleanup efforts with the Bodo community in 2014.

It would be recalled that the Dutch oil giant transferred its mining licence to Nigerian consortium Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings in a $2.4bn deal last January.