Lack of social mechanisms in EIA responsible for degradation, crisis

A non-government organisation, Publish What You Pay (PWYP) in partnership with Cordaid, has identified lack of social and human mechanisms in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as responsible for environmental degradation and unresolved crises in oil and gas region.

The group called for inclusion of social and human rights protective mechanism’s in the Nigerian environmental impact assessment to mitigate crises in extractive laden areas in the country.

Speaking at a one-day multi-stakeholders consultative meeting on Integrating Social and Human Right Impact Assessment into the Environmental Impact Assessment Policy and Legal Framework, recently in Abuja, the National Coordinator of PWYP, Peter Egbule, said the trend has also extended to mineral resources.

A statement signed by Comrade Taiwo Otitolaye, Project Coordinator and Peter Ebule said it was in other to contribute towards bridging the gaps that they engaged the people on the Environmental Social and Human Rights Impact Assessment (ESHRIA) process, to help carry along the public.

This, according to the statement, is to deepen and strengthen the process of ensuring that citizens’ rights, especially communities’, are part of environmental impacts assessments in project design, implementation and government decisions.

The group advocated that business operations follow due diligence process of community inclusion in the EIA process and companies, especially the International Oil Companies (IOCs) involved communities in oil and gas management impacts on their communities and freedom to be part of the process.

It also urged government at all levels to involve communities in decision and policy making processes, and create conducive environment for dialogue and continuous interface and biodiversity audits every two years.

“The EIA Act currently undergoing the process of amendment is a window of opportunity to get it right. The different stakeholders should work together above personal, sectional and group interests to integrate community voices, inclusion of all concerned in the design and implementation of EIA and biodiversity audits,” the group also said.