The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has organised a training programme for communities in the Port Harcourt City Council of Rivers State on evidence gathering during oil spills.

The training aimed to equip community members with the skills to collect actionable evidence against perpetrators of environmental pollution.

According to Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of HOMEF, the training is crucial in ensuring that communities can get justice for environmental pollution.

He noted that the government has failed Nigerians by not consulting communities before approving projects that affect their environment.

Bassey emphasized the importance of collecting credible evidence that can be accepted by courts, stating that fighting for environmental justice is becoming more critical.

He said: “Today we are specifically looking at evidence gathering. Not only monitoring and reporting what you are seeing, but we are looking at what kind of evidence can you collect that’s actionable? What evidence can be accepted by the courts? How can you get legal help if there is a problem that you need to take to court and who is the person that’s in the best position to gather evidence that can be useful? These are the things we are focusing on today.

He added that the cases are getting more complicated, and there is a need for competent individuals within the communities who can provide evidence.

“The cases are getting more complicated and we need to have competent individuals within the communities who can provide evidence because they live in the communities, they experience the problems and so they are the best to speak up and present actionable evidence when necessary,” he added.

The training was well-received by the community members, with Chief Samuel Iwo, head of Firisika Polo, Marine Base, expressing gratitude to HOMEF for bringing the training to his community. He assured that the lessons learned would be documented and remain useful to the community.

Mrs. Grace Timi, speaking on behalf of the women in the community, commended HOMEF for teaching them about their environment and how to monitor and get actionable evidence to demand environmental justice. She promised to galvanize other community women to become environmental monitors.

Meanwhile, HOMEF has called on the government to put a stop to the divestment process and nullify all approvals, citing that the process lacks transparency and consultation with affected communities.

The organization accused most new companies of having ties with divesting companies and questioned how the government could endorse such processes despite the environmental damage caused by oil multinationals in the Niger Delta region.