…Bill Negates Nigeria’s Commitment To Paris Agreement Fault PIB For Giving Oil Companies Overriding Power To Nominate All Members of BoT of Host Communities Call For Deletion Of Clause Seeking To Make Communities Forfeit Benefits Over Act Of Vandalism
Cross River state has the largest remaining forests in Nigeria. While the country has lost 0ver 90% of its original forest cover, an estimated 50% of what remains is in the forests of Cross River state. In 2008, a unilateral state government moratorium on use of forest products resulted in the adoption of the United…
Rivers state, among other states in the Niger Delta region has become notorious for the occurrence of atrocious killings. In the last 5 years at least, there has been a steady rise in the prominence of killings perpetrated by state and non state actors, once again highlighting Rivers state as a major flashpoint for these…
#NigeriaBleeds Following its sharp increase of 43% in mass atrocities 2020, Nigeria has continued to experience a decline in security across the nation. In the first quarter of 2021(January to March), we recorded an all-time quarterly high of almost 2000 fatalities from mass atrocities incidents across the country. This week, across the 6 geopolitical zones, there…
Since Nigeria’s Fourth Republic began in 1999, the eight oil and gas producing states have received over N9 trillion under the derivation principle sanctioned by the nation’s constitution.
A Conversation with Chairman of the Cross River State Forestry Commission …Responsible for the largest remaining forest in Nigeria, and destination of REDD+ We the People: Our researches indicate a high rate of logging in the reserved forests of Cross River state, which will in turn reinforce climate change impacts. What is the state government’s response…
The chances of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to address problems in the oil sector, especially those which have to do with host communities, have got slimmer as host communities and some Civil Societies (CSO) have rejected the Bill for not accommodating their interests.
Room 028, the venue of the public hearing on the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB was thrown into pandemonium on Thursday following a fight by some members of the host communities of crude oil reserves in the Niger Delta.
On the 26th of March 2021, We the People and partner, Policy Alert held a Niger Delta Regional Conference on the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020 to presents findings from its review of the Bill and engagements with communities in the Niger Delta. In his Keynote remarks, the Public Relations Officer of the Pan Niger Delta Forum…
*This chat with the Executive Director of We the People was conducted by Budgit on Twitter and first published on Medium in October 2020 The challenges of benefit transfer to host communities in oil producing states is certainly not a new conversation. In fact, the discourse has been a laser focus in recent years, with perceptive…
*This chat with the Executive Director of We the People was conducted by Budgit on Twitter and first published on Medium in October 2020 The challenges of benefit transfer to host communities in oil producing states is certainly not a new conversation. In fact, the discourse has been a laser focus in recent years, with…
Chapter 3 of the 2020 Petroleum Industry Bill makes provisions for the establishment and management of a petroleum host community development trust, as a framework for the transfer of development benefits to petroleum host communities. The objectives include to foster sustainable prosperity within host communities, provide direct social and economic benefits from petroleum operations to host…
In contribution to the ongoing national legislative conversation on the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020, We the People led a delegation of oil producing communities and CSO to the Public Hearing at the National Assembly. We presented a Memo containing concerns with the Bill and recommendations. Download Full Report
On the 9th and 10th of February 2021, We the People and Partners organized a 2- Workshop to examine the impacts of climate change on food security in Southern Nigeria. Since at least 2012, several communities in the Niger Delta especially those lying around or bordered by rivers, have experienced annual floods that overwhelm massive part…
At least 48 persons were murdered in extra judicial circumstances in Rivers state between July and December 2020. We the People’s human rights accountability team recorded 31 incidents of atrocity in the period. The spate of killings reflects a general climate of insecurity and lawlessness which continues to highlight Rivers state in atrocious murders. Unfortunately, these…
The Natural Resource Charter (NRC) is a set of principles intended for use by governments, societies, and the international community to determine how best to manage natural resource wealth for the benefit of current and future generations of citizens. The charter’s 12 precepts cover the different kinds of decisions and policies that are required to successfully…
Some civil society groups have expressed concern over the manner in which some Panels of Enquiry on Police Brutality were being established in Cross River, Rivers, and other states of the federation, warning that the committees may not achieve the expected results. Executive Director of ‘We The People,’ Ken Henshaw, said the decision of some governors…
A non-governmental organisation, We the People, has expressed fears that the composition of various State Panels of Inquiry might undermine the genuine intention of federal and state governments to investigate the activities of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). Executive Director of We the People, Ken Henshaw, expressed this in a statement he issued in Port…
Following the nationwide #EndSARS protests which has forced the federal and some state governments to re-assess their responsibility of ensuring that law enforcement officers operate within established rules; and that atrocities committed by those tasked to protect are accounted for, different levels of government have established frameworks for investigative processes. Several states have established Panels of…
Mr Ken Henshaw, Executive Director, Center for Social Studies and Development (CSSD) says a decent Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) must address major concerns that will drive economic growth of oil producing communities and the country at large. Henshaw made this known at a Virtual Masters class on Precept 5 of the Nigerian Natural Resource Charter (NNRC)…
The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs under Mr Akpabio's has been overshadowed by corruption scandals in NDDC which it supervises, although some of the cases predate his appointment in 2019.
As concerns grow among ex-militants that the federal government might be considering the termination of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), signs of a possible resistance are already building up in the Niger Delta region.
Civil society groups working in the Niger Delta have raised alarm over the level of unemployment in the region.
President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to suspend all procurements in Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). In a petition to the President, 29 civil society organisations across the Niger Delta recommended that supervision of the NDDC should moved back to the presidency.
In the last 3 years, We the People has campaigned actively demanding an end to atrocities of law enforcement officers against citizens in Nigeria, especially in the Niger Delta. In 2018 alone, we published 10 reports describing killings by state and non-state actors, including those of the Police and other armed forces. Between 2018 and 2019,…
We the People is deeply concerned about the plight of Street Children in Calabar. For almost 2 decades, Calabar, the capital of Cross River state in southern Nigeria has seen a continued rise in the number of children that live on the streets and provide for themselves without the supervision of adults. While Cross River state…
To commemorate Nigeria’s 60th Independence Anniversary, We the People on October 1st, 2020, participated in a peaceful protest in Port Harcourt aimed at calling the attention of the country’s leadership to bad governance, poorly implemented policies, insecurity and killings in the country and the general decline of development indicators in the country. Unfortunately, the protesters numbering in…
In the last five years, Nigeria has witnessed an alarming rise in state backed attempts to stifle the civic space, criminalize democratic dissent and suffocate freedom of assembly and expression. In this period, there has been at least three legislative attempts made to stifle basic freedoms and the civic space. These have included attempts to pass…
Executive Director of a nongovernmental organisation, We The People (WTP), Mr. Ken Henshaw, has accused the Federal government of treating the warning to the Nigerian government by the United States of the infiltration of ISIS, Al- Qaeda and Boko Haram into the Southern part of the country with ignominy.
We are deeply concerned about recent revelations on the scale of corruption and mismanagement in the Niger Delta Development Commission. We recall that the NDDC was established in 2000 as one of the first tasks of the new democratic government in Nigeria, and conceived as a response to the agitations of the people of the region…
All the systems of benefits transfer to oil-producing communities put in place by the Federal Government have over the years, failed to address the exploitation, degradation and deprivation suffered by the communities, according to a report by Centre for Social Studies and Development.
THIRTY-FIVE leading Niger Delta-based civil society organisations, CSOs, and community organisations, on Wednesday, raised the alarm that while the National Assembly probe into the activities of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, was ongoing, ‘bulk withdrawal’ was made from its account.
Oil and gas stakeholders and community development experts have listed several reasons why Nigeria currently performs abysmally in natural resource charter that has led to gross under-development of many rural areas where crude oil is mined and refined...
• “People were treating the place (NDDC) as an ATM, where you just walk in there to go and pluck money and go away” -Godswill Akpabio • “NDDC has 12,000 abandoned projects in the Niger Delta” -Godswill Akpabio • “There is no way NDDC road can last (for) even two years” -Godswill Akpabio • NDDC owes…
A coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria have called for the overhauling of the Niger Delta Development Commission and the disbandment of the leadership architecture of the commission.
Centre for Social Studies and Development, an NGO has called on Cross River Government to implement the Child Rights law to curb increasing number of children on the streets.
CENTRE for Social Studies and Development, an NGO has called on Cross River Government to implement the Child Rights law to curb the increasing number of children on the streets.
The increased number of street children in Calabar, the Cross River state capital, has drawn the ire of a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Centre for Social Studies and Development which blamed the issue on the inability of the state government to implementing the Child Rights Law it domesticated.
Over one hundred street children in Calabar, Cross River State have accused the State government of neglect and abandonment. The Street children who spoke to DAILY POST separately on Tuesday at their makeshift residents at Lema dump-sites in Calabar regretted the way the government treats them, lamenting that their situation was not as bad during the…