Communities in Niger Delta live in depressing conditions---SERAP
According to the report, “The communities
in the Niger Delta remain the poorest in the country.”
The 82 pages report was launched on Wednesday, in Lagos, entitled: ‘We Are All Vulnerable Here’: How Lack of Transparency and
Accountability is Fuelling Human Rights Violations in the Niger Delta.
The report presented to the media by Dr.
Olubunmi Afinowi, Faculty of Law of the University of Lagos, discloses that
“The region remains deeply in the grips of squalor, poverty, and environmental
degradation.”
The report shows that, “Corruption
contributes to poverty and consequential suffering of many people in the Niger
Delta. The rights of the people to a clean, safe and healthy environment is routinely
violated and abused by the government and oil companies.”
According to the report, “Extensive social,
economic, and environmental degeneration has largely affected the lifestyles
and wellbeing of the people of the Niger Delta. Also apparent is the continued
disregard and abuse of the human rights of the people of the region.”
Femi Falana, SAN said at the report launch,
“The management of the Niger Delta Development Commission by interim
administrators is illegal. The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister
of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, should advise President Muhammadu Buhari to
urgently reconstitute the NDDC board of directors.”
Falana said, “Since the appointment of
interim administrators is unknown to the NDDC Act, all contracts awarded by
them are illegal and liable to be set aside.”
Falana also called on “The Federal
Government to release the report of the forensic auditing of
the NDDC to enable the oil producing communities to demand accountability from
many contractors who collected huge funds and abandoned development projects in
the Niger Delta region.”
Among the people who attended the report
launch were Speaker of Cross Rivers State House of Assembly, Mr. John
Etim; the Chairman of the ICPC, represented by Dr. Grace Chinda; and the
Executive Secretary of NEITI, represented by Kareem Lamidi, team lead advocacy
for NEITI.
The report launch was also attended by Dina
Sabi, Second Secretary of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Nigeria; the
Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, BPSR, represented by
Mr. Egbe Ekpe; and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice, represented by Raji Rasaki.
Others were Chief Eric Barisa;
Madam Florence Kayemba, Stakeholder Democracy Network; the Executive Secretary,
NHRC, represented by Mr. Saliu Musa; representatives of communities from the
Niger Delta; and the members of the media.
All the participants expressed commitment
to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the
report.
The report, read in part: “While the oil and gas upstream operations
span the entire Niger Delta region, the empirical study in this research
focuses on the Delta, Bayelsa, and Rivers states.
“The doctrinal study, on the other hand, is
more encompassing and examines the challenges and adverse impacts of the oil
and gas industries in the host communities and the government’s response
mechanisms through the various regulatory and institutional frameworks.
“The relevant monitoring agencies have not
effectively carried out their duties and functions and this has led to a continued
disregard for the rights of the people and the need to protect the environment.
“Corruption is a major factor in the
continued degradation in the region. There is a lack of an effective governance
and feedback framework to foster interactions between regulators, companies,
and communities. This implies a lack of transparency and accountability from
the companies and the government to the people.
“The oil and gas companies receive minimal
government monitoring in the conduct of their activities; more troubling is the
prevalence of oil theft and illegal mining, and refining of crude oil. Such
illegal activities make the region crime prone and increase the vulnerability
of the inhabitants of the communities.
“The communities are continually exposed to
food insecurity and health risks. Most of their communal lands, land and water
resources have been lost or continually threatened by degradation and
pollution.
“A lot of information about the oil and gas
companies, their activities, environmental audits and other relevant
information are not available to the public. Such information is often shrouded
in secrecy, and where made available, is limited, unclear and provides little
or no actual information.
“Marginalization of women, the aged, the
youths and other vulnerable members of the communities, such as persons with
disabilities is rife. This marginalization also has far-reaching implications
for the protection of the socio-economic rights of the inhabitants of the
communities.
“President Muhammadu Buhari should publicly
recognize and re-affirm that every Nigerian citizen, including oil producing
communities, is entitled to economic and social rights, and take steps to
ensure constitutional recognition of these rights as legally enforceable human
rights.
“President Muhammadu Buhari should
immediately instruct the Ministry of Niger Delta Humanitarian Affairs and other
government agencies overseeing the NDDC to immediately publish the forensic
report on NDDC conducted in 2021.”
“The leadership of the National Assembly
should ensure that the relevant committees collaborate to initiate independent
public enquiries and fact-finding on how public funds have been spent by MDAs
to mitigate the socio-economic impact of environmental pollution in oil producing
communities.
“The leadership of the National Assembly
should make public the findings of any such investigations by the relevant
parliamentary committees on the use of public funds by MDAs to mitigate the
socio-economic impact of environmental pollution in oil producing communities.
“The leadership of the National Assembly
should make public all reports of previous investigations into allegations of
corruption in relevant MDAs concerned with the management of issues relating to
the impact of environmental pollution in oil producing communities and send
such reports to anti-corruption agencies.”
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