Group Asks ECOWAS, Governments To Enact Laws To Hold Multinational Companies Accountable For Soil Degradation
Princess-Ekwi Ajide Abuja
Land Use Act of Nigeria has no provision for ownership of land by persons who are not Nigerians but there have been harrowing stories of violations by agri-food companies owned by foreigners and their breach of operational contracts ravaging various Nigeria communities.
Many of these companies according to a Civil Society Organisation, Friends of the Earth (FoE) operate without considering the health implications or hazards they cause inhabitants of the affected communities.
It is on this backdrop, that members of the organization called on the ECOWAS parliament and government at all levels to hold multinational companies, national and international financiers accountable for the impact of their plantations on communities.
The group, led by the Coordinator, Forest and Biodiversity Programme of the organisation, Rita Uwaka, while speaking with newsmen on the sideline of their presentation to the ECOWAS parliament, in Abuja, noted that the soil of the host communities of these companies and their plantations are no longer useful for farming as most of them have been polluted with agro-chemicals.
She counted the negative impacts of the expansion of industrial plantations to include deforestation, expulsion of communities, destruction of local food systems, pollution, land grabbing, violations of workers’ rights, gender-based violence, intimidation and harassment of environmental human rights defenders and women, and a host of other disadvantages.
For the Sustainable Development Regional Programme Officer, from Liberia, Richard Sam, these companies are supposed to explain to the indigenous people what could be the positive or negative impact their investment can have on the community hence they must seek approval from the local communities, and comply with their laws.
He said that the ECOWAS parliament and the government can make existing and new laws more effective by promoting good governance and exhibiting strong political will.
Others who spoke at the briefing include Gladys Uzoigwe from Euola Community in Rivers State who had personal encounter with the companies, the Deputy, Food Sovereignty Programme, FoE Africa, Mariam Orovwuje, among others recounted horrible experiences communities encounter once a multinational company commences production there and called on the ECOWAS Parliament to enact actionable laws that would mitigate these challenges.
The vision of the organization is a peaceful and sustainable world based on societies living in harmony with nature.
