The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday said it will proceed to the Supreme Court to regain the right to hear and handle issues relating to oil spills and pollution in the country.
The Deputy Director of Legals, NHRC, Rivers State, Mrs Sarah Orage, disclosed this in Port Harcourt, the state capital, during a public presentation of a Legal-Policy Analysis Report titled “Legal-Policy Gap Analysis of the Petroleum Industry Act and Mobilisation of Citizens’ Public Interest Advocacy.”
The event was organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) Resources Centre, with support from the Africa Centre for Energy Policy.
Recall that a Court of Appeal in Abuja, in July this year, in a unanimous perpetual injunction read by Justice Okon Abang, ruled that NHRC lacks the jurisdiction to entertain complaints relating to oil spills and pollution in Nigeria, as they are not considered human rights.
The higher court also said only the Federal High Courts are constitutionally empowered to handle such matters.
The case stemmed from a 2016 petition filed before the NHRC by the Akwa Ibom State Oil Producing Community Development Network and the All Farmers Association of Nigeria in the state.
But Justice Adeyemi Ademola, in an ex parte motion filed by the National Petroleum Development Corporation (which was seeking review of some powers of NHRC), said the commission lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the complaints before it.
Orage of the NHRC said the commission is heading to the Supreme Court to overturn the decision.
Orage, who represented the Coordinator of NHRC, Port Harcourt office, Mrs Chinwe Okoroji, said the judgment only denied the people the opportunity to exercise their rights.
She noted, “When it comes to environmental issues, you have rights. Whenever there are rights, we, the National Human Rights Commission, are there.
“Presently, the Court of Appeal, some months ago, held that the Human Rights Commission does not have the right to entertain issues on oil spills and environmental pollution.
“If they say we don’t have the rights, who else should? As you see, the legal jurisprudence is trying not to recognise the rights of the people if they give this judgment.
“If you strip us of this right, you have directly denied people their rights to justice. As we speak, we are approaching the Supreme Court, and we hope that the Supreme Court will reverse that judgment.
“Else, the rights of the host communities to get justice will be hampered. For now, it will affect the well-being and welfare of the people.
“If this judgment is overturned, the commission will do a lot. The commission cannot act fully if they have been stopped by this judgement.”
The Executive Secretary of HEDA, Mr Sulaimon Arigbabu, called for accountability and transparency in the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Arigbabu said four years after the passage of the PIA, its impact is yet to be achieved, regretting that while the legal structure is strong, significant implementation gaps remain.
He said the government has introduced laws and policies to address the rot in the oil and gas industry, but implementation and enforcement remain a point of concern.
Arigbabu further said the success of all the regulations and laws around the industry has always been impeded by weak enforcement, inadequate funding, and community conflicts.
The HEDA executive director stressed the need to strengthen regulatory frameworks and enforcement mechanisms and increase transparency and accountability in the petroleum sector.
He urged the government to promote local content and community engagement and to enhance environmental protection and remediation measures.
The Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Dumle Maol, noted that the PIA is mainly designed to benefit host communities but said its implementation must be transparent and accountable.
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