NDAC Demands Immediate, Comprehensive Audit of Entire Niger Delta

By Ekemini Simon

The Niger Delta Alternatives Convergence (NDAC) has called for the immediate and comprehensive audit of the entire Niger Delta region.

Niger Delta Alternatives Convergence (NDAC) is a pan forum made up of front-line civil society organisations, socio-cultural groups, academics, traditional rulers, and individuals drawn from the nine Niger Delta states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, and Rivers.

NDAC made the position known in a communique issued at the end of its second convergence held in Port Harcourt on April 25, 2023.

The convergence said the audit should cover environmental, livelihood, health, social and economic impacts of crude oil and gas extraction.

NDAC stated that the audit should be immediately followed by the decommissioning of decrepit facilities, remediation of impacted places, restoration of the human and ecological damages caused by extraction activities, and reparations for the irreversible and extensive damages caused by oil extraction. 

The NDAC had observed that the major multinational oil companies that have operated in the Niger Delta region for the last six decades are driving a divestment programme that has seen the companies clandestinely sell off their onshore and shallow water assets in the region, without the knowledge or participation of the ‘host communities’.

The Convergence which noted that the companies are not only divesting said they are also abandoning facilities which are in a very poor condition coupled with decades of problematic relationships developed with oil-bearing communities. 

NDAC pointed out that Niger Delta has become an ecological wasteland ravaged by the heedless pollution associated with multinational oil companies’ activities. 

The Convergence noted that the contamination of soil, air, and water has resulted in the poisoning of the inhabitants of the region thus resulting in an alarming increase in illnesses and a drop in life expectancy considerably below the national average. 

NDAC insisted that the oil companies are divesting in a bid to flee the climate justice imperative of their reckless actions in the last 65 years. 

The convergence called on all Niger Deltans to move beyond talks and immediately take action, including nonviolent direct action, as well as utilising all available legal instruments to demand justice in the region.

NDAC asked the federal government to immediately produce a framework and guide for how oil companies disengage from areas where they have operated. 

The convergence called on the government to compel divesting IOCs to fulfill all outstanding Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) and Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoUs) obligations to communities and their environment before handing over assets to Domestic Oil Companies (DOCs). 

Part of the resolution reads “An immediate review of the PIA by the National Assembly to do the following; Provide a definite deadline for gas flaring by oil companies and eliminate powers to permit flaring. 

“Review gas flare fines to reflect the same amount as the commercial value of natural gas in the international market, while transferring flare fines to host communities. 

“Eliminate the section of the PIA that places the responsibility to protect oil installations on host communities.” 

NDAC called on the federal and state government to immediately establish frameworks to ensure that corruption is eliminated in the management of oil revenues that accrue to communities including the ecological fund, the 13% derivation and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

The convergence demanded the release of the forensic audit report on the activities of the NDDC and the prosecution of those that fleeced the Commission. 

NDAC asked that detailed plans be produced by the states and federal government to respond to new and emerging climate change threats to include strategies for supporting community resilience, controlling flooding, relocating communities, addressing health concerns and providing for the social and economic needs of affected people. 

NDAC assured that they will continue as a peoples’ space for advocacy and engagement, guided by the Niger Delta Manifesto for Socio Ecological Justice. 

Meanwhile, the convergence which was chaired by His Royal Majesty, Suanu Baridam, had a Keynote titled Looking Back and Thinking Forward: Imperatives of a New Niger Delta Agenda delivered by Professor Sofiri Peterside of the University of Port Harcourt. It also had a panel discussion of experts, and several interventions by notable persons and interest groups in the region.