Cross River communities reject EIA report on road project

The Ekuri communities in Cross River State, on Friday protested against the report of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on the construction of a super highway in the state.The protesters, including women and children, rejected the report and urged the Federal Government not to honour it as submitted to it by the state government.

They carried placards bearing different inscriptions, as they marched along the streets chanting, “we no go gree, we no go gree.”Speaking on behalf of the communities, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Ekuri Initiative, Mr Martins Egot, said, “this issue of super highway and right of occupancy on our land is something we have been pushing for long.

He explained the “revocation of our forests and farm lands by Governor Ben Ayade is a pogrom against us. We did not vote for him to chastise us and we do not know if forest conservation has become a sin?”

Mr Egot added that the communities have told the state and the Federal Government in clear terms that the EIA report is not fair to them.He disclosed that the protests become necessary because they were not part of the report, even though it was supposed to be a participatory venture by affected communities.

They maintained that they are not in support of the revocation of their lands, or for any part whatsoever to be taken in the name of super highway construction.It would be recalled that some communities had objected to the construction of the 260 kilometre digital super highway, which is expected to consume over 250, 000 giant trees in the country’s remaining rainforests.

According to the aggrieved communities, the trees exclude the thousands of different species of younger trees that cut across old and new Ekuri, Oban, Okokori, Edondon, Etara, and close to 180 other communities, which would be impacted by the highway.

The protesters disclosed that the state government had, in a publication in Weekend Chronicle of January 22, 2016, revoked 20.4kilometres on both sides of the highway for overriding public interest.

According to the Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, (HOMEF), Rev. Nnimmo Bassey, “The forest is not just about trees, but a complex ecosystem that supports culture and life which give us the oxygen we breath,’ noting, ‘if they are cut down, the communities would suffocate.”

However, Special Adviser to the Governor on Technical Matters, Mr Eric Akpo said, “the numbers of trees that would be affected are not 250,000, but less than 25,000.”He explained that the state government would plant 5 million trees in replacement. Akpo said the proposed tree planting would extend the current rainforest from the central senatorial district, where the project terminates, further into the northern senatorial district.