July 31, (THEWILL) -A Non-governmental organisation, Stakeholders Alliance for Corporate Accountability (SACA), some Ministries of the Bayelsa State Government, the National Human Rights Commission, as well as selected Federal Ministries and Parastatals, during the week, carried out a validation exercise on Human Rights Due Diligence Tool in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
In his welcome address, the Executive Director of SACA, Mr Kingsley Ozegbe, expressed his appreciation to members of the SACA’s Human Rights Due Diligence Committee(HRDDC).
THEWILL learned that the HRDDC is one of the three committees SACA has earlier set up in its quest for a continued campaign and sensitisation against the hazardous effects of oil spillages on human life and other oil and gas-caused environmental pollution, amongst others.
Ozegbe noted that the Human Rights Due Diligence Committee was an institutional-based one, just as he lauded the National Human Rights Commission, the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment, the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), as well as others for their partnership with the NGO in its programmes.
He said, “The purpose of our gathering here is to Validate the Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDDC) Tool. This tool was developed as a national tool to help the National Human Rights Commission conduct periodic Human Rights Impact Assessments on business enterprises in Nigeria.
“It’s specifically for community impact assessment. It would help business enterprises to identify existing and potential risks that may hinder or be already obstructing their operations, with a view to addressing them and deflating human rights risks on time. So it’s meant to reduce or remedy human rights risks around the company’s operational areas.
“These efforts would improve the quality of relationships amongst stakeholders and boost the investment climate in Nigeria, sustainable employment, national revenue and development, as well as healthier societal growth. The importance of periodic Human Rights Impact Assessments on companies can’t be overstressed. If the HRDD process had been in place, it would have averted the calamity befalling people in extractive communities, the oil and mining companies and the Nigeria Government.
“The issue of broken relationships that led to the arms struggle in the Niger Delta region and the continuous willful damage of oil facilities that excelled to oil theft, illegal oil bunkering and refineries, and the endemic pollution of the environment would’ve been nipped on bud.”
The Executive Director who also commended the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), Asia and Nigeria, as well as the Danish Institute for Human Rights, noted that materials obtained from the trio bodies immensely aided SACA’s work in developing the Human Rights Due Diligence Tool.
SACA is funded by Misean Cara of the Republic of Ireland with the support of the St. Patrick’s Missionary Society (SPMS).
The NGO has said, the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and its parent firm, ENI were the funders of its current programmes on the Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) Tool.
Presenting an address also, the Chairman of SACA’s Human Rights Due Diligence Committee, who doubles as the Bayelsa State Coordinator, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mr Eugene Baadom stated that the committee has embarked on massive awareness creation in selected communities across the state, sensitizing them on human rights, corporate social responsibility (CSR), Due Diligence principles and on the UNGP Business and Human Rights, respectively.
He said, “These community awareness programmes carried out by the HRDDC weren’t aimed at hurting anyone, the Communities nor Stakeholders in the oil and gas sector, but to create an avenue where communities are aware of the negative effects of oil spills to their health, agricultural production, communities and its implication to our economic growth in terms of revenue generation.”
Meanwhile, participants of the programme from the Federal Government’s level have also commended SACA for its selfless services, reemphasizing that the NGO has been spare-heading a just cause.
Participants at the Federal Government level included the Permanent Secretary, the Federal Ministry of Justice, and Solicitor-General of the Federation who was represented by a Deputy Director, Citizens Rights Department of the Ministry, Barr. (Mrs) Chinelo Iriele, the Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), represented by the Deputy Director, Business and Human Rights, Barr. (Mrs) Pwadumdi Okoh.
Also in attendance were, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Steel and Mines, represented by a Principal Geologist in the Ministry, Mr Rufai Abdulmalik, the Controller, the Federal Ministry of Environment in Bayelsa state, Aleibiri Amatarei, as well as the Director-General, NOSDRA, who was represented by an Assistant Director, Legal Services of the agency, Barr. (Mrs) Titilayo Zozoma Baiyelo.
SACA, however, noted that the only participant from the invited officers from security formations in attendance was the Commandant, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp(NSCDC), Bayelsa State Command, represented by a Deputy Commandant, Ndubuisi Lawrence.
