Niger Delta Communities, Era To FG: Regulate Oil Firms

Niger Delta Communities, Era To FG: Regulate Oil Firms

OIL bearing and hosting communities of the Niger Delta, Nigeria's main
oil and gas basin, and Environmental Rights Action (ERA) rose from a
meeting in Effurun, Delta State, resolving to mount pressure on the
Federal Government to urgently regulate oil activities in the country.
In a communique e-mailed to AkanimoReports on Thursday, the two parties
explained why government should regulate the extractive industry.
According to them, ''the Nigerian Government should exercise its
statutory powers to regulate oil and other extractive industry
activities to bring an end to impunity and environmental degradation in
the Niger Delta and other parts of the country.

''Gas flaring, which is a crime against the people and environment must
be halted without further delay''.

The communique which was jointly signed by ERA ExecutiveDirector, Nnimmo Bassey, and Che Ibegura, of the Host Communities Netwok, observed that government was yet to demonstrate sufficient commitment to reviewing the nation’s electoral laws to reflect the true yearnings of Nigerians for participatory democracy

According to them, ''the political landscape is still dominated by
individuals and political groups that are not committed to good
governance but rather, personal and class enrichment, though civil
society groups played active roles in the return of democracy to the
country in 1999 after over 30 years of military dictatorship, they
failed to seize the political space created by that epoch episode''.
Continuing, they claimed that though Nigerians are determined to
exercise their civic rights as the large turnout at the recent voter’s
registration exercise showed, the political process is yet to be fully
owned by them, ''the nation’s law makers are yet to exhibit commitment
to reviewing obsolete environmental laws and initiating
environment-friendly law''

They argued that if the ongoing political process does not result in
free, fair and credible elections in the governorship and presidential
elections slated for April 2011, the nation may face a serious crisis
which will result to the electorate expressing total disenchantment
about subsequent political processes and governance in the country as a
whole, adding, ''journalists and civil society groups are still
deliberately left out of votes counting and other processes that will
make the elections transparent and the peoples vote count''.
The meeting further observed that there is an abysmally low awareness
about the electoral laws and electioneering processes among the Nigerian electorate, especially at the grassroots, and that security personnel are still largely unenlightened about their statutory roles in defending democratic structures and are constantly fingered in election rigging

''Women and vulnerable groups are still largely underrepresented in
elective positions, capitalism and neo-colonialism are part of the
structural causes of poverty and mis-governance in Nigeria, and the
entire African continent., Government policies on environment and other
critical sectors are largely top-bottom in approach, and mostly dictated by transnational corporations whose interest is solely profit and not the well-being of the people'', the meeting said.
Continuing, they said, ''oil pollution, gas flaring and other flagrant
abuses perpetrated by the oil and extractive industry are still rife,
government is yet to wake up to the reality of exploring alternatives to
fossil fuel in a post-oil economy even when it has become clear that the volatility of oil fields across the world will force most nations to look away from fossil fuels, a development which the oil multinationals will exploit to dodge remediating the impacts of their activities in the already neglected Niger Delta''. The ERA host communities meeting then made a nine-point recommendation
as follows:

& The Nigerian law makers embark on a truly comprehensive review of
Nigeria’s electoral laws which will ultimately guarantee transparent,
violence–free and fair elections.

* Good, responsible and committed government is one of the strategic
tools that Nigeria must have and deploy in order to free itself from the constraints that presently obstruct and threaten to strangulate it.

* Non governmental organizations and Civil Society should strengthen
their alliances, network, and reach out to political allies to build a
critical mass that will monitor elections and mobilize the grassroots to ensure that the votes of the electorate count.

* All stakeholders-communities, civil society groups, government
agencies, the media, among others, must work collaboratively to expose
unsound environmental practices and mobilize for laws that will reverse
the trend.

* CSOs and NGOs to work collaboratively with INEC and the police to
ensure a peaceful, credible, free and fair election

* That civil society and NGOs should adequately mobilize Nigerians to
resist election rigging and other actions by individuals and group to
frustrate the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in the
governorship and presidential elections slated for April 2011
Women and the vulnerable in the society must also be mobilized and
empowered to exercise their civic rights and protected from the fallouts
of resource conflicts.

* The Nigerian Government should exercise its statutory powers to
regulate oil and other extractive industry activities to bring an end to impunity and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta and other
parts of the country. Gas flaring, which is a crime against the people
and environment must be halted without further delay.

* Need for a more concerted awareness and mobilization of local
communities to resist gas flaring and other unfriendly environmental
practices in the Niger Delta and other parts of Nigeria where resource
conflicts are rife.

* That all new oil finds be left in the soil. This will necessarily
involve the stoppage of new oil exploration as well as bidding and
allocation of new oil and gas blocs. ERA’s comprehensive proposal on how revenue shortfall will be avoided is recommended for adoption. The planned exploitation of bitumen should also be rejected as it will
inflict unmitigated catastrophe on communities and raise new levels of
conflicts.

ENDS

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