Edo Environmental Impact Assessment workshop ends in stalemate

A scoping workshop on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), organized by Fayus Nigeria Limited, one of the companies allegedly involved in the land dispute with the local communities of Owan forest zone of Edo State, recently ended in a stalemate.

The workshop, which was held in Benin City, the state capital, was mirred in disagreement at the event’s venue.

The disagreement pitched officials of the company against representatives of the various local communities who were backed by some notable civil society groups (CSGs), who had formed a coalition with the local communities, on the matter.

Earlier on before the commencement of the event, which was to start at 10.00 am, but delayed until 2.30 pm, there were strong altercations between the company and representatives of the communities, who said they came to the event to protest that the EIA scoping event was baseless, because the forest land upon which the EIA workshop was premised, was under a dispute.

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They alleged that the vast land areas were ceded out without the consent and prior information of the local communities, who they insisted, owned the forest reserve lands, which were only handed over to government.

They said the government was answerable to the local communities on the land.

While faulting the organizers of the workshop for giving a short one-day notice to some colluding public institutions and “rented” stakeholders, who they alleged, were not from the concerned local communities, they further alleged that the event was ill-conceived otherwise details and invitations to a programme of such magnitude would have been given a minimum advance notice of two weeks.

They thus questioned the legitimacy of such exercise, which they also said was supposed to have been directly conducted by the Federal Ministry of Environment, that is responsible for all EIA surveys.

However, organizers of the event, led by Mr Fatai Yusuf, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Fayus Nigeria Ltd., denied that those present in the event were truly representatives of the communities, who were also duly invited.

Some of the said community leaders, who supported the company’s position said they were from Ora and Iuleha clans, among the over 35 distinct communities, said to jointly own the forest land

But the responses to some telephone calls put through to the Traditional Councils of Ora and Iuleha clans, respectively, indicated that both communities were not notified or given invitation to attend, as hinted by some of the leaders of both communities.

These leaders of the communities also said that they did not agree to cede any land within the zone to any company or government.

Through a series of news reports, the various Communities of the Owan Forest Zone had earlier called on the Edo State Government to stop giving out their ancestral forest reserve lands to companies to establish vast oil palm plantations and some other agro activities, based on the communities’ arguments that it would aggravate the scarcity of arable farm land, hunger and security situation, in the face of a fast-growing population of the locality.

The invitation to the said EIA scoping workshop, issued on 2nd December, 2021 by Farus Nigeria Limited, a firm rooted in the United States of America, however, had confirmed that vast 5,084 hectares allocated to Farus alone, could be a part of more vast land areas alleged to have been approved within the forest zone to several other foreign and local companies by the state government.