Shell to pay $16m to Nigerian farmers over oil damage- PublishedShell has agreed to pay $16m (£13m) to four Nigerian farmers and their communities to compensate for damage allegedly caused by pollution coming from leaks in its oil pipelines.The sum was agreed in negotiations between the oil company and campaign group Friends of the Earth.The oil spills in this case happened from 2004 to 2007 and the pay out follows a decision last year by a Dutch court that the Nigerian branch of Shell was responsible for the damage.Although the amount of compensation is not huge, this development is seen as a milestone for rural communities across the Niger Delta region and environmental activists, the BBC's Ishaq Khalid reports.The four farmers who began the case - Barizaa Dooh, Elder Friday Alfred Akpan, Chief Fidelis A Oguru and Alali Efanga - said the leaks from underground oil pipelines had cost them their livelihoods by contaminating land and waterways."