Rights group seeks review of 2004 environmental impact assessment act

A civil society group in Bayelsa State, the Mac-Jim Foundation and some stakeholders in environmental development, have called for a review of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act, 2004, in line with present day realities to guard against environmental pollution.

The stakeholders, who have also constituted a community-based committee to sensitise communities in the state on the EIA Act and its usefulness to them and development interventions in their environments, stressed the importance of environmental assessment inspite of the oil exploration activities in the state.

Speaking during the two-day workshop, on “Environmental Social and Human Rights Impact Assessment (ESHRIA)” organised by the Mac-Jim Foundation in Yenagoa, the executive director of the foundation, Mr. Godson Jim-Dorgu, said the essence of the workshop was to enlighten community stakeholders on the subsisting EIA Act and its relevance to social development interventions and activities within communities.

He said the approach by the foundation was to galvanize a community-driven advocacy towards the repealing of the EIA Act to favour the affected communities optimally.

“Some of these communities do not understand that there is an existing EIA Act which needs to be reviewed, they are only expressing concerns that as communities, they are supposed to be consulted by oil companies, construction firms and even government agencies on development projects in their environments that require environmental impact assessment.

“In other climes, people are beginning to talk about environmental, social and human rights impact assessment, having gone beyond the EIA. So, the awareness is for communities to know that  they can use and rely on the EIA Act for sustainable development,” Jim-Dorgu stated.

He explained that the committee, under its mandate, would also engage relevant stakeholders, including legislators, in the advocacy for an amendment to the EIA Act and the need to seek communities’ inputs.