Stakeholders at the ongoing Nigerian International Petroleum
Summit (NIPS) in Abuja have identified the dearth of infrastructure and
commitment as the major challenges facing gas-to-power projects in the country.
A gas-powered plant
They made the observation on Tuesday, January 29, 2019 at a
breakout session of the summit, which has “Evolution of Energy Mix: Where Are
We Headed’’ as its theme.
Mr Saidu Mohammed, Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power,
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said that Africa was blessed
with vast natural gas resources which needed to be harnessed.
“Natural gas is available in all African countries, but we
need to work together as a continent.
“Regional integration is very important, especially in the
area of infrastructure,’’ he said.
He noted that although there had been a clamour for
renewable energy, in which Africa had a comparative advantage, gas-to-power
projects remained the best option in power supply programmes for the continent.
Besides, Mr Dayo Adeshina, Programme Manager, National
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Expansion Plan, underscored the need to develop
the gas infrastructure in Nigeria, as part of efforts to attain the goals of
the nation’s gas-to-power projects.
He noted that the policy directions of government had
somewhat affected the use of gas in the country.
He stressed that there was huge infrastructure deficit in
gas utilisation, noting that 50 per cent of Nigeria’s gas infrastructure was in
the South West geopolitical zone, while the northern part of the country had
only three gas filling plants.
“In other nations, public utilities are powered by gas, but
the opposite is what we have here in Nigeria.
“You will recall that government had supported kerosene,
which should not be for human consumption, with subsidy but gas was left with
huge Value Added Tax (VAT) to deal with.
“I am happy that government is now addressing it but we are
expecting the outcome,’’ he added.
Adeshina bemoaned the fact that the Nigeria LNG Ltd. (NLNG)
had only three terminals for gas transportation, saying that most products were
transported by road.
He called for the development of rail and inland waterways
infrastructure to facilitate better distribution of products.
He stressed that the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure
would stimulate efforts to attain the targets of the country’s gas-to-power
projects.
In his comments, Mr Justice Derefaka, Programme Manager,
Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme, stressed that the nation had
lost a lot of development prospects due to gas flaring.
He said that about 888 million standard cubic feet of gas
were flared in Nigeria daily, adding that the flared gas could have been used
to generate over 3,000 megawatts of power for the country.
Derefaka underscored the need to enforce polices aimed at
stamping out gas flaring in the country.
Also, Mr Ransome Owan, the Pioneer Chairman of Nigerian
Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), said that huge gaps existed between
what was happening and what should be done.
He said that Nigeria still lacked the infrastructure to
effectively harvest its gas resources, adding that there had not been any
tangible commitment to addressing the issue.
“What is happening with the West African Gas Pipeline
project? How well do we supply gas to Ghana?
“We are not working on connectivity; people are flaring gas
not because they want to.
“We have to resolve to solve the infrastructure challenge to enable us to achieve the goals of gas-to-power programmes in Nigeria and Africa at large,’’ Owan said.
The EU on Tuesday, January 29, 2019 approved the import of
U.S. soybeans for use in biofuels as part of efforts aimed at defusing
trade tensions between Brussels and Washington.
The European Parliament
EU-U.S. trade relations have been strained since U.S.
President Donald Trump raised tariffs on steel and aluminum imports 2018, while
threatening a similar move against the EU automotive sector.
In July, Trump met European Commission President Jean-Claude
Juncker with a view to smoothing over the trade spat.
They pledged, among other things to “work to reduce barriers
and increase trade’’ in areas including soybeans.
Since then, U.S. soybean exports to the EU have more
than doubled; although until now this was due to a fall in prices rather than
any policy decisions.
“The U. S. is Europe’s main soya beans’ supplier and today’s
decision will further expand its market opportunities in Europe.
“By submitting the request for recognition, the U.S. has
shown that it is ready to play by the rules,’’ the commission said in a
statement.
The approval, based on the finding that U.S. soybeans meet
European technical requirements, initially lasts until July 2021.
To extend the recognition, the U.S. authorities would have
to meet new EU sustainability standards.
The EU imports around 14 million tonnes of soybeans annually
for livestock feed and milk production since it cannot grow enough
domestically.
Most of it came from Brazil before the rise in U.S. imports.
Despite several meetings in recent months, Brussels and
Washington have made little progress towards launching negotiations on a
limited trade deal.
Momentum to repair degraded lands and to manage droughts
more effectively has picked up, according to reports released for review by an
inter-governmental meeting that opened on Monday, January 28, 2019 in
Georgetown, Guyana.
Minister of State, Guyana, Joseph Harmon, with Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and other delegates at the opening ceremony of CRIC-17
An assessment of land degradation in 127 countries revealed
that close to 20 percent of healthy land was degraded in the first 15 years of
this Millennium. Globally, 169 countries are affected by land degradation,
desertification or drought. In the last four years, 82 countries have set
targets aiming to halt land degradation by 2030 and 44 of the 70 countries
regularly hit by drought are setting up drought management plans to ensure
droughts do not turn into disasters.
The findings are said to be the most comprehensive to date,
with data submitted by 135 countries and an assessment of degradation monitored
using earth observations.
The Seventeenth Session of the Committee for the Review of
the Implementation of the UN’s Convention to Combat Desertification (CRIC17)
taking place in Guyana will review the reports over the next three days. Their
recommendations on further actions to ramp up this momentum will be tabled at
the fourteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to
Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to be held from October 7 to 8, 2019 in New
Delhi, India.
“Momentum is with us,” announced Monique Barbut, Executive
Secretary of the Convention, during the opening of CRIC 17.
“The first piece of good news is that we know more and more
about what is going on…. how much land we have degraded globally in the first
15 years of this Millennium, how life has changed for the communities living on
degraded lands, how droughts are evolving globally, the changing status of
endangered biological species, and the financial resources available to address
desertification,” she said.
She also described as good news the reports’ findings that
“in all regions, rural populations now have more access to safe drinking water,
poverty has declined by 27% overall, at least 120 countries will eventually
have targets to curb land degradation and there is growing interest from
domestic and global private finance to invest in land management.”
Barbut, who steps down as the Convention’s Executive
Secretary next month, however cautioned that “aspects such as land governance,
education, demography and land use planning still have a long way to go,” and
called on governments not to underestimate their ability to trigger change in
the most pressing areas, but to be “brave.”
Joseph Harmon, Minister of State, Guyana, said “although
milestones have been achieved… we still have to be steadfast in addressing land
degradation.”
“The continuing degradation of land and soils is a severe
threat to the provision of ecosystem services and economic development
globally,” he said.
Harmon said “the pressures on land are increasing due to
urbanization, population growth and rising demands for food, feed, fuel and
fiber. Halting land degradation is therefore a prerequisite for sustainable
development,” he stressed.
Global efforts to combat desertification began in 1977.
However, the rapid loss of productive land due to a combination of poor land
uses and growing extreme and erratic weather effects now affects more people
than ever before.
Two other recent reports examined the extent and effects of
land degradation on livelihoods. The Global Land Outlook released in 2017 found
a persistent loss of 20 percent of the Earth’s vegetative cover from 1998-2013.
The “Assessment of Land Degradation” released in 2018 showed that
land degradation impacts over 3.2 billion people. The Inter-Governmental Panel
on Climate Change is expected to release its own assessment of the effects of climate
change on land degradation later this year.
Rajahu Alahji Oumarou, a 21-year-old mother of two children,
stands at the doorway of her three-room thatched house in the Zirgene
neighbourhood of Colomine, lost in thought. Just 10 metres away, bulldozers
belonging to Chinese miners are working in a huge hole. While the excavators
continue to dig the over 70 metres deep hole, trucks stand by ready to be
loaded with the soil which is carted away to the Chinese miners’ camp to be
washed for gold.
Local youth of Colomine blocking a truck belonging to a Chinese mining firm after a clash between locals and the Chinese over a mining area. Photo credit: Solomon Tembang
Like others who make up the 71 households in Zirgene,
Rajahu’s forefathers lived in the area for decades. But now she says they,
mostly of the Mbororo minority ethnic group, are about to be rendered homeless.
Their thatched houses, which now perch on the edge of the large hole, may end
up falling in. To add to this, children and even adults run the risk of falling
into the hole which may end up being filled with water.
“I am not happy seeing this. My child almost fell into the
hole the other day. If I was not vigilant to rush and hold him from behind, it
would have been a different story,” Rajahu recounts.
Oumoul Abdou, a 27-year-old mother of four, laments: “We are
living in fear as we stare death in the face on a daily basis. There are
several of these holes surrounding where we live. We can no longer use our
latrine because a hole dug by the Chinese miners has ‘cut it off’. They
destroyed our groundnut farm when they dug one of the holes.”
‘This hole belongs to
us’
As I talked to Rajahu and Oumoul, I hear loud arguments
coming from where the bulldozers were digging. When I got there, I found out
that the machines have stopped working. A group of local youths have gathered
around and are in a heated argument with the workers of the Chinese miners. Some
of the youth had used logs of wood to block the loaded trucks from leaving and
others from coming in.
Some of the youth were claiming that they have been carrying
out artisanal mining here to earn a living and now, the Chinese have come with
machines and want to take over the place.
“If they want to continue their activity here, they must
compensate us financially. This area belongs to us,” some of the youths
shouted.
The situation, which almost led to a brawl, was only brought
under control when an elderly man from the Colomine community, after
negotiation with the Chinese through their interpreter, assured the youth that
they will be compensated the next day. But one of the youngsters told me such
promises have been made severally but never kept.
Such clashes between the Chinese and the locals, Honore
Sirgho, a local vigilante leader says, are the order of the day.
On the opposite end of the town, some pupils of Government
Primary School Colomine are playing football behind one of the classrooms. But
less than 60 metres away is a hole, about 30 metres deep, that has been dug by
miners. Some of the pupils say they are aware of the danger the hole poses but
have learned to live with it.
Officials of the school, which counts some 1,400 pupils,
were not available for comment.
East region of Cameroon is ridden with such pools left behind by miners. Photo credit: Solomon Tembang
Death-traps
The mining activities have also left behind death-traps in
some areas like Ngoe Ngoe, a village in East Cameroon with about 2,600
inhabitants. In the night of January 1, 2017, nine people were killed in an
abandoned mining site when they went in search of gold. The site collapsed and
buried them in 33 feet of earth in the mine excavated by Lu and Lang, a Chinese
mining company banned from operating in Cameroon in April because it lacked a
license.
Yaya Moussa, head of Ngoe Ngoe village, recounts the
tragedy.
“The Chinese arrived with (Cameroonian) law enforcement
to drive the villagers out of the mine sites to better exploit our
resources,” he explained. “So, the villagers were forced to come in
the night, in the absence of the Chinese, to extract gold and find food for
their families. It was during one of these nocturnal outings that the earth
fell on them.”
However, the deaths in this gold mine in Ngoe Ngoe have not
deterred locals from venturing into it. When I visited the area in October
2018, some young men could still be seen digging in the ill-fated pit in search
of the precious stone.
Oumarou Haman, president of the Ngoe Ngoe vigilante group,
says the lure for gold still attracts people to the mine site, which is yet to
be rehabilitated.
“If nothing is done to refill this site, I fear that many
will still die there,” he says.
Students drop school
to chase gold
The lure of the gold is also having a toll on school
attendance in the East region of Cameroon. Justin Chekoua says many students
are dropping out of school to go to the sites that have not been refilled or
closed by the Chinese miners to dig for gold. Women, some pregnant and others
with babies on their backs, are also attracted to the mining sites.
Government authorities have told locals to stop digging in
the abandoned sites. But the need for income is so high that many ignore the
order, including kids who should be in school.
Yves Bertrand Awounfack, Senior Divisional Officer of the
Lom and Djerem Division, sometime ago, launched a drive during which he went
from village-to-village asking locals to leave gold mines alone and for parents
to return their child miners to school.
Vincent Atangana, a Cameroonian official at Chinese mining
firm EXXIL, blames parents for allowing their kids to work in the mines. He
argues Chinese mining has helped develop the area.
He says many houses are being constructed with modern
materials. Several years ago, fuel was sold in cans but today, says Atangana,
there are fuel stations. He says these developments are coming when gold mining
is still at a working stage – they will do even more when it reaches the
industrial level.
Billions of francs
CFA in gold lost
Under Cameroonian law, minerals in the ground belong to the
state. The state grants concessions to mining companies in return for 15
percent of the gold they extract.
This 15 percent is supposed to be paid to a state-owned
institution known as Artisan Mining Support and Promotion Framework with French
acronym CAPAM. But Justine Chekoua of FODER says some of the miners declare
less than what they mine, causing the Cameroon government losses in billions of
francs CFA.
On January 8, 2018, CAPAM declared that in 2017, it channelled
a little more than 255 kg of gold to Cameroon’s Ministry of Finance.
‘Sad situation’
Nyassi Tchakounte Lucain, Executive Director of Transparency
International Cameroon, says they have read several reports from NGOs in the
area about the deadly holes left behind by the miners.
“It is a very sad situation. We hope that while undergoing a
deep study on the situation especially on the issue of transparency, we would
be able to come back with concrete information and results about what is
actually going on and what we can propose as a civil society organisation,” he
says.
As to holes left behind by miners, Nyassi says “if verified,
I will call on the government of Cameroon to ensure that the laws are applied
for these holes to be filled because the government is the guarantor of the
security of humans and properties”.
‘We can’t encourage
destruction of environment’
Meanwhile, Ndouop Njikan Ibrahim of Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative, EITI Cameroon Permanent Secretariat, says: “I have
myself been to some of these areas where semi-mechanised mining is being
carried out by the Chinese and I discovered that the activities are very
harmful to the environment.”
“EITI has the objective to better the lives of the
population and we cannot do so by encouraging the destruction of the
environment. So, we persuade mining enterprises to respect the norms of
environmental protection. We regret the fact that the local authorities in
these areas, who should be acting like watchdogs, are not doing so,” Ndouop
says.
“It is also regrettable that most of the Chinese miners are
not acting through formal and identifiable enterprises in a direct relationship
with the state. Most of them have got the authorisation to act on the field
after having bought the license that an individual happened to have acquired
from the administration. Now that the license acquired by an individual has
been sold to another person, who is responsible for the environmental
destruction? That is the issue that should be handled by the state. EITI
Cameroon can only act like a whistle-blower to indicate that there is a problem
here that should be resolved, or it may deteriorate the living condition of the
local populations”.
On the losses the government suffers financially, Ndouop
says: “The only way the government can control quantities of gold mined is to
go into commercial relationships with formal, identifiable companies on the
field. The government should create and multiply control instances.”
While some of the Chinese miners who were suspended by the government have continued in defiance, Ndouop blames this on “laxity” on the part of administrative authorities.
“The Chinese are doing this in complicity with
Cameroonians,” Ndouop states. “Something really has to me done in the
semi-mechanised mining sector as it was done with the petroleum sector.”
Need for strict
regulation
On her part, Evelyne Tsagué, Africa Co-Director of Natural
Resource Governance Institute, says: “From the work that we have been doing, we
know that the semi-mechanised mining sector in Cameroon has a lot of problems;
the problem of impact, regulation, problem of effectiveness of the rule in
place. There is the need to strictly regulate activities in the semi-mechanised
mining sector.
“There is a huge gap between the mining rule and what is
practiced. The government should ensure that if a regulation already exists to
guide activities of people in the mining sector, this should be respected to
the letter. Where there is no rule, the government should pass a law so that
there is a kind of policy and regulation in this sector.”
Government moves to
stem the tides
However, the government of Cameroon has not been lying on its laurels. It has taken several steps to stem the tide as far as the activities of the Chinese miners are concerned.
In April 2018, the Minister of Mines, Industries and
Technological Development suspended the activities of three Chinese mining
companies for non-compliance to regulations.
In a statement suspending Hong Kong, Peace Mining and Lu and
Lang companies, the minister said they were no longer allowed to perform gold
mining activities in the East Region of Cameroon, and that their officials have
been asked to pack their bags and leave.
It appeared from the statement that Hong Kong Company did not have documents authorising it to carry out mining activities while Peace Mining and Lu and Lang companies’ suspension was linked to a series of conflicts recorded between their employees and local populations which resulted in deaths, in addition to a lack of respect to the environment, according to the statement.
Cameroonian government mining officials said they are trying
to address the situation by using drones to investigate claims of other illegal
mines, according to two officials who asked to remain anonymous because they
did not have permission to speak to the press. They also said most of the
Chinese mining companies do not have permission to work in the country.
The divisional delegate of mines for Lom and Djerem division, East region of Cameroon, William Djoulde, says artisanal mining contributes significantly to the national economy. He says there are over 20 authorisations and, with the measures being put in place, many clandestine miners will be flushed out.
“We want to professionalise this sector and send away
clandestine miners who help neither the state nor the local populations. The
measures are being implanted in the field,” Djoulde adds.
By Solomon Tembang
Concluded
This work was produced courtesy of a grant provided by the Africa-China
Reporting Project managed by the Journalism Department of the University of the
Witwatersrand
The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved for environmental release the Pod Borer Resistant Cowpea (popularly called beans) developed by the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Members of the National Agricultural Research System of Nigeria at a joint press conference on the approved PBR Cowpea, in Abuja on Monday, January 28, 2019
The approval was contained in a decision document issued by
the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) granting permit for the
environmental release of the PBR Cowpea which has been genetically modified to
resist the insect pest – Maruca Vitrata.
The approval means the crop is safe and posed no harm to
human and the environment and can now be submitted to the National Variety
Release Committee for consideration and registration as a commercial crop in
Nigeria.
The PBR Cowpea, by this development, becomes the first
genetically modified (GM) food crop to be approved in the country.
IAR in partnership with the African Agricultural Technology
Foundation (AATF) commenced the research to address the deadly Maruca Vitrata
attacks on beans in 2009 after series of efforts to use conventional breeding
methods failed to produce results.
After 10 years of extensive research, government has deemed
it fit to introduce the crop variety into the nation’s agricultural seed system
having met all regulatory stipulations and scientific procedures.
The introduction will address the national cowpea demand
deficit of about 500,000 tonnes and also improve the national productivity
average of 350kg/hectare.
At a public display of the approval on Monday, January 28,
2019 in Abuja, the coordinating agency for agricultural research in Nigeria,
the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), said that after many years
of research the council was proud to present to Nigerians the first home-grown
genetically modified food crop which, according to him, has passed all
necessary scientific tests and posed no danger to human health or the
environment.
“As the coordinating agency for the over 15 agricultural
research institutes in Nigeria, we have identified modern biotechnology as one
scientific tool whose potentials can help improve crop and animal production
and we have done this with all sense of responsibility, bearing in mind both
national and international protocols that guide the deployment of genetic
modification,” the Executive Secretary of the ARCN said.
The Executive Director of IAR, Prof. I. U. Abubakar, in a
presentation summarising the process that lead to the development of the PBR
cowpea, said the decision to venture into genetic modification in cowpea
breeding was as a result of pest infestation that has over the years made
cowpea farming difficult as farmers get less for their efforts and even have
their lives exposed to danger due to chemical spraying to keep the pest away.
“Cowpea is the most important food grain legume in Nigeria.
The low yield of the crop in Nigeria is due to many constraints particularly
pod boring insects which cause up to 90% yield loss in severe infestation
cases.”
Dr Abdourhamane Issoufou, AATF Country Director, said since
the mid 1980s, cowpea scientists have declared maruca as the main limiting
factor of cowpea production in Africa hence the intervention of the AATF based
on its principles of providing access to appropriate technologies by small
scale farmers.
“AATF was able to obtain access to the Cry1Ab gene used for
this modification on humanitarian basis and worked with institutions in
Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Malawi for the transformation. Today, Nigeria
stands tall in the comity of nations for effectively managing and bringing to
fruition this dream.
“The research results have shown that the PBR-cowpea is safe
for human and animals, completely resistant to Maruca; leads to yield increase of
20% with fewer sprays of chemical insecticides,” he noted.
Prof. Alex Akpa, Acting Director General, National
Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), said that by the approval, Nigeria
has registered her name among the global scientific community as a country
capable of finding solutions to her challenges.
“After 10 years of laboratory works and on-field
trials, Nigerian scientists have developed its first genetically modified food
crop, the PBR Cowpea, we are proud to be associated with this noble development,”
Akpa said.
A new international report linking obesity, under-nutrition
and climate change is calling for strong global actions to address all three
issues at once.
Prof. Boyd Swinburn
The Lancet Obesity Commission report published on Monday, January 28, 2019 argued that, to address the three interconnected pandemics, leaders must take a hard line against powerful vested commercial interests.
Prof. Boyd Swinburn from the University of Auckland,
co-chair of 43 world-leading experts, who authored the report, said the
commission has overhaul regulations and economic incentives within the food
system.
“Obesity, under-nutrition and climate change are usually
viewed as separate, but we show that not only do they share many key drivers,
they fuel each other via multiple feedback loops.
“For example, food systems not only drive the obesity and
under-nutrition pandemics but also generate more than a quarter of global
greenhouse gas emissions and about half of New Zealand’s emissions,’’ Prof
Swinburn said.
According to him, car-dominated transportation systems
promote sedentary lifestyles and generate up to a quarter of global emissions.
“Climate change will increase under-nutrition through
greater food insecurity from extreme weather events, droughts, and shifts in
agriculture,’’ Swinburn said.
The scientist said New Zealand could become a trailblazer if
the principles behind the government’s new well-being budget were applied
across all government policies and spending.
The Lancet Obesity Commission also recommended that all
countries enshrine in law an overarching Right to Well-being, which would
include the existing human rights, along with a new right to a healthy
environment.
It also suggested subsidies redirected towards healthy and sustainable foods and energy; a global philanthropic fund of $1 billion to support social movements demanding policy action. Also, it called for “a 7-generations fund’’ to research and apply indigenous and traditional knowledge and worldviews on living well, “making decisions today for seven generations ahead.’’
The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has called for
urgent protection and humanitarian solutions for over seven million displaced
persons across the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) region.
Scientists say the Lake Chad, that borders Nigeria and some other countries, has shrunken by 95 percent over the past 50 years. They have also linked the Boko Haram insurgency to the lake’s situation. Photo credit: AP/Christophe Ena
Countries in the LCB region include Nigeria, Nigeria,
Cameroon and Chad.
Mrs Liz Ahua, UNHCR’s Regional Representative for West
Africa, made this known in Abuja during the second Regional Protection Dialogue
(RPD).
She added that amidst the heightened insecurity, the Lake
Chad Basin continued to face serious protection crisis.
Ahua explained that the region was traumatised and going
through insecurity, terrorism, poverty and climatic situations that have
deteriorated.
“Today, two-and-half years after the first RPD, all of us
are gathered to share the pains being inflicted to over 7.5 million women,
girls, boys, men, young and old in the Lake Chad Basin.
“The Regional Protection Dialogues seeks to remind the
governments in the Lake Chad region on the principles of humanitarian action,
principles such as respect for the people who are displaced.
“Non-renouncement, which means that if they flee to another
country they should not be thrown out, then for us, a responsibility to ensure
that if they are in camps, there are no infiltration of the bad people and
creating mayhem.
“We remind the governments and work together with other
partners to say we have a responsibility to protect you.
“From there, we also move to the areas of not just
humanitarian assistance, but ensuring that even if they are displaced, their
means of livelihoods are not diminished. Now, there is so much happening.
“The climatic conditions are pushing people to move from one
place to another so, you have huge root causes.
“But we would like for these people, wherever they are, to
be able to continue with their dignified activities,’’ Ahua said.
Acknowledging the successes achieved by military operations,
Ahua said that there are cases of new displacements on regular basis.
She said that close to 320,000 persons have been displaced
anew in the last three months.
Ahua said that in a bid to addressing the humanitarian and
protection crisis, the UN and Nigerian government launched the Humanitarian
Response Strategy (HRS) and the Nigeria Regional Refugees Response Plan (RRRP).
She said that the comprehensive approach plan seeks to
address the weakness and vulnerabilities of refugees, IDPs, and persons of
concerns and to ensure the humanitarian and development responses of actors.
Mr Yassine Gaba, UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator to
Nigeria, said that as conflicts continue to linger everyday, civilians bear the
brunt of the crisis.
Gaba said that protection of civilians remained the key
priority of the operation and an issue that must be tackled head on at all
levels and from all angles.
He said that despite the challenges, the humanitarian
community was determined to continue providing life-saving humanitarian
assistance in support of government-led initiatives.
The second RPD was a follow up to the maiden RPD which held
in June 2016 and birthed the 24 commitments Abuja Declaration.
The RPD seeks to look at various achievements, progress made
and challenges in the implementation of the Abuja Declaration.
A palm oil producer, Mr Godswealth Henry, on Monday January
28, 2019 decried the increase in destruction of oil palm plantations in the
country.
A palm oil plantation
Henry, who is the Managing Director of JEKON Integrated
Farms Nig. Ltd., lamented the development in an interview with the News Agency
of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
According to him, while Cameroon and Ghana are developing
thousands of hectares of new oil palm plantations, Nigeria is busy destroying
the same number of hectares of surviving oil palm plantations.
“We producers are being discouraged from producing palm oil
in the country.
“Cameroon and Ghana have saturated the Nigerian market with
their low quality palm oil, as a result our high quality ones are considered
very expensive.
“Nigeria palm oil quality is of high reddish pigmentation
unlike the ones from Cameroon and Ghana which have low reddish pigmentation.
“This high reddish pigmentation from wide palm is the real
palm oil and is what makes our palm oil superior.
“However, it is difficult to export our palm oil now because
it is very expensive compared to that of Cameroon and Ghana.
“Even locally, palm oil producers cannot compete in the
market with the ones coming in from Cameroon and Ghana because they come in
large quantities and at cheap prices.
“Producers of local palm oil are being forced to sell at par
with the ones from Cameroon and Ghana which is far below our production cost,’’
he said.
Henry said that the volume of palm oil produced in Nigeria
now was very low because of scarcity of palm fruits.
He said that the biggest palm oil miller in the country
assisted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO)
could not mill oil to its maximum capacity because of scarcity of palm fruits.
The managing director added that even at the peak period of
oil palm production, the mill could not operate steadily for a month.
He said that oil palm plantations were being sold for
housing estate development projects, adding that even the oil palm plantation
adjudged as the biggest in West African had been sold to a foreign company.
He noted that his company was planning to go to Cameroon and
invest in Oil Palm plantation to ensure steady supply of fruits to its milling
plant.
An environmentalist, Mr Emmanuel Emechete, told the Federal
Government on Monday, January 28, 2019 to embrace renewable energy in full
force, “to reduce carbon footprints’ on the environment’’.
Alhaji Suleiman Hassan Zarma, Minister of Environment
Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) in Lagos, Emechete said there was an urgent need to compel Nigerians to
live sustainably to save their lives.
“If we can switch to renewable energy that is one major way
Nigerians can live sustainably and reduce the carbon footprint in the
environment.”
He argued that living sustainably was the only choice for
Nigerians to engender a habitable and safe environment conducive for living.
“To live sustainably as Nigerians, we must address the basic
problem of Nigeria which is the unavailability of power.
“Due to power issues, Nigerians run their electricity
generators for long periods of time. Generators are run in schools, market
places, hospitals, offices etc.
“The fumes from the incessant running of generators affect
the environment, owing to excess carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
“We do a lot of carbon flaring arising from these generators
as well as through vehicular movements.
The environmentalist also spoke on the implications of
vehicular fumes on living sustainably, calling on government to also take
measures to correct the anomaly.
“The fumes from our vehicles cannot help us live sustainably
because of the carbon emissions from faulty exhausts in them.
“Most vehicles in the country are vehicles that have lived
beyond their normal life spans. In some of them, the drivers cannot see clearly
because of the amount of fumes they generate.
“There has to be a regulation of the kind of vehicles that
are certified as fit for Nigerian roads and the environment in the long run.
“The government had initiated a policy on taking these kinds
of vehicles off our roads, but we do not know if it has been implemented.
“Our vehicles should pass particular tests before they can
ply our roads.
“These fumes are not just hazardous to our health but also
to our environment because they deplete the ozone layer,” he said.
Emechete, however, recommended research and advocacy which
he said, were sure ways of helping Nigerians to live better.
“We should end plastic pollution through researches that
promote the use of biodegradable materials in packaging, instead of plastic or
polythene bags as done in developed climes.
“Individuals can also be encouraged to live sustainably by recycling
pet bottles thus reducing plastic pollution and preserving the environment.
“We can also use biodegradable shopping bags, instead of requesting for disposable nylon bags when we go shopping,’’ he stated.
Nagbayanga Valentin, a widow in her late thirties, sits on
the earth floor of her thatched two-roomed house she shares with her four young
children in Haya Haya, a mining encampment with about 2,000 inhabitants in
Longa Mali village of Betare Oya sub division, some 200 kilometres from
Bertoua, headquarters of Cameroon’s East region.
Locals carrying out artisinal mining in Cameroon. Photo credit: Solomon Tembang
Dirty pots, pans and other old household paraphernalia are
strewn all over the tiny house. Outside, the laughter and chatter of her
children and those of other neighbours is audible enough as they play a local
game, virtually ignorant of the weighty problems their mother, and the
community, are going through.
Poverty is discernible in the community whose inhabitants
live in thatch houses, but just metres away, Chinese machines are rumbling as
they mine away millions of francs CFA in gold.
Conflicts had, over the years, been brewing between the
local population and Chinese miners until it boiled over on November 15, 2017
when there was a confrontation and a Chinese pulled out a gun, shot and killed
a local. The population rose up in anger and beat the Chinese to death. Since
then, relations between the local community and the Chinese miners have been
frosty as tension continues to simmer.
“My husband was shot and killed by a Chinese and now I am
left with four children to fend for,” Nagbayanga Valentin says. “Things are not
easy as life is becoming very difficult in this community. The little money my
husband made from artisanal mining is no longer there and so I wonder how I am
going to feed these children or even send them to school.”
Her husband, Issa Paul, was shot dead by a Chinese whom the
locals simply knew as Bouboul.
Beleke Andre, brother to Issa Paul, was there when it all
happened.
“We were seven of us digging in our hole. The Chinese also
had their hole not far from ours. But later, the Chinese, maybe realising that
our hole was producing more gold, insisted that they must dig where we were
already working. As they continued to insist, we said they should wait since we
had our ‘stones’ in the hole and when we take them out, they can go ahead,”
Beleke Andre says.
“They wanted to pay us money to take over where we had been
digging. But we said since we were seven of us, they should wait until we agree
among ourselves before we can strike any deal with them. That is how we
continued digging to take out our ‘stone’. But the Chinese, whom many villagers
simply called Bouboul (we don’t even know his real name), was insisting on
closing the hole. When we did not allow him to close the hole, he called the
Chinese camp, which is close by, on the telephone.
“Three Chinese then arrived at the scene. At this moment,
Bouboul went to one of their vehicles, took a gun and shot three times in the
air. When he came close, I am the person he wanted to shoot. As my pregnant
wife was also at the scene, I went and stood behind her.
“Bouboul then fired another shot in the air and then shot at
my elder brother, Issa Paul. As my brother died, we overpowered the Chinese and
took the gun. All I remember is the population coming out in anger and beating
the Chinese who later died.”
The case has been dragging at the judiciary and the chances
for them to find justice over the death of their loved one, Beleke says, are
very slim. He says at the court, the Chinese maintain that if they have to pay
for the death of the Issa Paul, the locals also have to pay for the death of
the Chinese.
“But we are not the ones who started the conflict. He was
the one who first shot and killed our brother,” Beleke laments.
A community in Zirgene neighbourhood in Colomine threatened by mining activities. Photo credit: Solomon Tembang
‘This land is our
livelihood’
Some of the locals have been mining in this area for decades
after inheriting the land from their forefathers in accord with local
traditional law (droit coutumier),
only for them to get up one day and see Chinese brandishing a mining concession
on their land.
This was the case with Doko Habraham in Colomine, some 100
kilometres from Betare Oya.
“This land is our livelihood. If taken away from us and
given to the Chinese, we won’t have any other means of earning a living. My
ancestors have been on this land for several decades. I went to where my mine
was one day, and it was like I wasn’t even on my own land anymore,” Doko
says.
“No one came to tell me that my land was going to be taken
over by Chinese miners and if I was going to be compensated for the said land,”
he adds.
Doko Habraham says he later found out that the Chinese
miners who were working with machines on his land had bought a concession from
a Cameroonian who had secured exploration rights in the area. Doko has no land
title and so he is no match to the Chinese miners, whom, he claims, “could
easily buy their way around”.
How the Chinese
miners came here
For years, the local people had been mining for gold on
their ancestral lands, through artisanal means using spades, buckets and hard
work until the Chinese companies arrived with excavators and powerful pumps and
are now practicing semi-mechanised mining. The Chinese have been devastating
the environment and the locals say they’ve received no compensation.
The Chinese are in brisk business, mining away hundreds of
millions of francs CFA in gold. But those bearing the brunt of the mining
bonanza are the native communities who continue to live on the edge of the
precipice.
But how did the Chinese come about carrying out
semi-mechanised mining in this area? Justin Chekoua of Forêt et Développement Rurale (FODER), a non-governmental
organisation (NGO) working in the area, explains that semi-mechanised mining
came to the East region of Cameroon in early 2000 when the Cameroon government
was planning to build the Lom Panga hydroelectric dam. He says when the
government realised that a lot of gold would be lost in the area that was
going to be flooded by the dam, it set up what was christened “Programme to
Save Gold in Lom Panga Dam Area”.
Cameroon’s mining code does not allow non-nationals to
acquire mining authorisation for concession areas. Chekoua explains that
because the artisanal miners would have been slow and not be able to save all
the gold before the dam floods the area, the government allowed semi-mechanised
mining to be carried out.
“But since the nationals carrying out artisanal mining did
not have the expertise and finance to save the gold speedily through
semi-mechanised mining, the government said Cameroonians could enter into
technical-financial partnership with expatriates. That is how many Cameroonians
brought in expatriates, majority of who are Chinese, to come into partnership,”
Chekoua discloses.
The authorities conceded the move would violate mining laws
but said the situation was an emergency.
“However, instead of going into technical-financial
partnership with expatriates for the semi-mechanised mining, Cameroonians are
now instead getting the authorisation and selling to the Chinese. They are now
selling mining space to Chinese,” Chekoua regrets.
He elucidates that because the area around the Lom Panga Dam
was going to be flooded, the semi-mechanised miners were not compelled to carry
out any environmental impact assessment. They were also not forced to fill the
holes their activities left behind.
“The mining code specified that each individual could have a
maximum of four hectares to mine in…and instead of staying within the area
where gold was to be saved, those who are acquiring authorisation and their
Chinese ‘partners’ have gone beyond this zone,” Chekoua adds.
Environmental hazards
Since the Chinese miners went beyond the area to save the
Lom Panga gold, the environment and local communities have continued to suffer.
“Previously when the locals were carrying out artisanal
mining, there was little or no impact on the environment. But since the Chinese
came in with semi-mechanised mining, the environment has been devastated,”
Chekoua says.
Many waterways have been disrupted and streams silted.
“Because the Chinese need a lot of water to carry out the
semi-mechanised mining, they have deviated almost all the streams or rivers
into their mining camps and local communities downstream have no water for
household and other uses,” Justin Chekoua notes, adding: “In some areas such as
Longa Mali and Ngoe Ngoe, mud from the activities of the Chinese miners has
silted streams and rivers. The use of mercury by the Chinese miners has also
polluted streams and rivers. Fish and other aquatic animals are dying. Oil and
petrol from the Chinese machines are also polluting streams.”
Pristine forest is also being cut down to make way for the
Chinese mining activities.
Loud, vibrating sounds of excavators accompany the
back-breaking work of the mine workers, just a kilometre outside of Colomine.
Covered in mud, they sway around in the mining pits as they pan for gold, dig
more holes, or use the noisy machines on the edges of the mining pit to fill
trucks with quantities of the gold-containing mud that will later be processed
with mercury. At this exact spot, there used to be a forest, but many layers of
vegetation have already been removed by miners.
There is no possible coexistence between mining and forests,
says Justin Chekoua. “All lands dedicated to mining and, in particular, to
surface mining, will be a terrain where forests are sacrificed because it
requires the removal of large amounts of land. This sacrifice of the forests
represents an irreparable loss of natural capital.”
‘Misery is our
potion’
Despite all the millions of francs CFA being mined away in
gold, the inhabitants of these localities are living in abject poverty and lack
the most basic of social amenities.
Hamadgoulde Bouba, the traditional head of the Haya Haya settlement,
is not a happy man.
“We don’t have water. Where they throw their sand was where
we used to fetch water. Now they have blocked it. Other places we have created
to get water they have also destroyed them. Even the road is deplorable. Their
trucks have completely destroyed the roads. In fact, all we know here is
misery,” he laments.
“They do very little for the population. And to worsen
things sometimes, we go to our farm only to discover that the farms have
disappeared, with the soil having been dug by the Chinese and taken away to
their camp to wash and get gold. How do we live if our farms are being
destroyed?”
Many inhabitants of Haya Haya refused to talk on record,
saying they were afraid of being victimised by the Chinese. The Chinese have instilled
fear in the inhabitants of Haya Haya. One simply said, “The fear of the Chinese
here is the beginning of wisdom.”
Deadly open tombs
The semi-mechanised mining activities of the Chinese have
left behind deep holes which have been filled with water. The localities of
Longa Mali, Colomine, Ngoe Ngoe, Ngoura, Ngoyla, Batouri, Yokadouma are
littered with such holes, some as deep as 50 metres, many of which have been
filled with water.
People are said to have lost their lives in these deadly
tombs. According to statistics from FODER, at least 47 persons died in 2017 on
the former mining sites. About 250 mining sites opened between 2012 and 2014
have not been filled, the NGO added.
Cattle and other livestock have also been falling into these
holes, locals say.
“We cannot even rear livestock because they will all fall
into the holes Chinese miners have dug everywhere. The situation is very
pathetic,” Hamadgoulde Bouba says.
No compensation
According to Cameroonian law, the mining companies are
supposed to pay compensation to local people who owned or were making a living
on the land.
But Pilo Michel, traditional ruler of Longa Mali, says there
is nothing to write home about the activities of Chinese miners in the area.
“They have not done anything good for my village that they
are exploiting. The state of the road to the village is bad. I don’t know of
what use the Chinese are here,” he says.
“Since the days of my parents before I took over as chief,
the Chinese have done nothing here in terms of corporate social responsibility;
not a school, not a health centre, not water supply, not even to repair the
road they use to evacuate what they mine here. They have instead continued to
destroy sources of livelihood in our village. They continue to exploit us.
Longa Mali village is rich in minerals but has nothing to show for it,” Pilo
regrets.
“Even the holes they dug, they have not refilled. Water has
filled these holes and they are posing real danger to the community. People
have been dying in those holes.”
Pilo says the government of Cameroon must force the Chinese
miners to construct schools, health centres, repair the road and provide
potable water to the community and even build a market.
As for the open tombs they have left, Pilo says: “they should fill them. We insist on the Chinese closing these holes they have dug, if not, humans and livestock will continue falling into them.”
