BEING COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF AN EMERGENCY MEETING OF AFRICAN INDIGENOUS FOUNDATION FOR ENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (AIFES) HELD IN PORT HARCOURT ON MONDAY 24TH OCTOBER, 2022
An emergency meeting of AIFES was held in Port Harcourt, Nigeria on Monday 24th October 2022.
The meeting had in attendance the leadership and members of AIFES including other members of the civil society, community leaders, student groups, women and youth groups.
The meeting discussed several issues including the flood crisis, state of insecurity and the climate change crisis.
After exhaustive discussions, the meeting resolved as follows:
A. THE KILLER FLOOD SITUATION IN SOME STATES
AIFES expresses its sympathy to the victims of the present flood crisis across various states in the country particularly Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Benue and Kogi States.
AIFES condemns in its entirety the negligence exhibited by various governments of Nigeria which had made a-45 year crisis to continue to fester and had led to the death of over a thousand souls since Nigeria started to harvest the product of its dereliction in building a buffer dam after this was agreed between Cameroun and the country years ago.
This incident once again goes to demonstrate that we have only had governments without a soul and without a sense of humanity. This destructive flood situation would have been avoided and lives saved have we had or been blessed over time with caring governments that thinks about the future of her citizens. AIFES expresses great concern over the level of destruction where thousands of communities have been destroyed and millions of peoples displaced.
AIFES calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately overhaul its disaster preparedness and management strategy to forestall a repeat of this situation of avoidable calamity in the future.
We further call on the relevant agencies of the government as well as the international community including companies, corporate bodies and well-meaning Nigerians to come to the immediate assistance of the victims and communities affected by the flood to reduce their suffering.
We also reiterate to the government that there needs to be a clear strategy for addressing post-flood challenges such as health crisis, accommodation, food insecurity, criminality and loss of farmlands.
We also call on the government of Nigeria to immediately complete the buffer dam that it was supposed to build to take in the water from the Lagdo dam
B. CLIMATE CHANGE CRISIS
Nigeria’s commitment to addressing the climate change crisis has been quite halfhearted. Whilst Nigeria had established the National Climate Commission, its actions in recent times belie the entire purpose of the Commission. This year, Nigeria declares 2020-2030, as her decade of gas production. How can a country working to address climate change promote the intensification of the exploitation of gas, which is not clean energy? How can a country that stated in its National Determined Contributions (NDC), that it will phase out gas flaring by 2030 not demonstrate its plan to so do?
As we speak, no government in the Niger Delta where the threat of subsidence and denudation is real has developed any plan to address climate change.
As we approach COP27, we call on governments at all levels in the Niger Delta to set up mechanisms for addressing climate change in their respective states
C. STATE OF INSECURITY
Governments all over the world exist for just two things: Provision of security and welfare of its citizens. Any government that fails to provide these two services for her citizens has lost legitimacy and can no longer be called a government.
The state of insecurity in Nigeria today calls for drastic overhaul of our entire security architecture. The level of wanton killings and impunity in the land is becoming unbearable that is making many to resort to self-help. It is time to call on this government to resign for its gross failure to handle the issues of insecurity. The state of worsening insecurity can no longer be tolerated with this sort of lame duck government.
D. WATER RESOURCES BILL
AIFES condemns the attempt by the Federal Government to force the water resources bill on Nigerians and call on well-meaning citizens of the country to oppose it. This bill, which was first introduced in 2020, gives the Federal Government direct control over surface and ground waters, and further mandates individuals to obtain a license before they can access water, a natural resource received freely from God to meet the needs of humankind.
We indeed condemn the attempt to centralize the management and use of our water resources by the Federal Government if this bill is passed into law.
AIFES joins well-meaning Nigerians to call on the federal government to retract this bill and not pass it into law. This bill violates our principle of common good and our ancestral ownership and use of our land and water resources.
E. CRUDE OIL THEFT
AIFES joins all well-meaning Nigerians to express her complete shock over the recent staggering revelations of colossal and systematic oil theft that has been going on in the Niger Delta for several years in an area garrisoned by all manner of security agencies. The Niger Delta remains the most militarized area of Nigeria yet this level of humongous pilfering of our natural resources has been going on for years unchallenged and unnoticed. This discovery and revelations goes to confirm our position several times that the large scale oil theft in the Niger Delta was a coordinated pillage of our resources by those at the top levels of government including its security apparatus
We call on all those with responsibility to protect this national patrimony to immediately resign and the President, General Muhammadu Buhari take immediate steps to ensure that all those involved are brought to book.
Issued and adopted in Port Harcourt on this Monday, 24th October 2022
Signed:
Legborsi Saro Pyagbara
Convenor
For and On behalf of the meeting participants