Stop marginalising oil communities, ERA tells FG

The Environmental Rights Action (ERA)/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (FoEN) has again charged the Federal Government to stop marginalising oil-producing communities.

ERA regretted that 25 years after Ken Saro-Wiwa was murdered, no significant attention has been given to oil-bearing communities, adding that the nation is yet to institute environmental justice.

Speaking in Port Harcourt, the Acting Executive Director of ERA, Chima Williams, also tasked companies operating in the region to see their hosts as stakeholders in the oil business in order to enjoy conducive environment for their operations.

Similarly, the Niger Delta Congress has criticised the Federal Government for covertly granting resource control to Zamfara State, through the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative, PAGMI.

Under the PAGMI scheme, the Central Bank will be purchasing gold that has been mined, processed and refined under the PAGMI scheme, for use as part of Nigeria’s external reserves.

PAGMI is an artisanal and small-scale gold mining development scheme, launched in 2019 to formalise and integrate artisanal gold mining activities into Nigeria’s legal and economic framework.

Speaking at the 25th memorial of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s death and launching of Ken Saro-Wiwa Memorial Park, the Acting President of Niger Delta Congress, Mr. Saatah Nubari, wondered why only a section of the country was granted resource control.

Nubari regretted that Ogoni nine were executed for demanding resource control, while principal officers of Sani Abacha’s regime, are now sectionalizing the country with lopsided resource control policy.

He charged the Federal Government to exonerate Ken and Ogoni nine, while condemning that planned moves by the Federal Government to recommence oil exploration activities in Ogoniland.