By Paschal Madu
The Urban-Rural Environmental Defenders (U-RED) has cautioned that the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP), which cuts across communities in West Africa and beyond, should not be characterized by systemic environmental injustice and neglect of the frontline communities.
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U-RED in a statement signed by its Executive Director, God’spower Martins, titled; ‘what is the true cost of the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline?’ called on federal government to carry out a thorough Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), so as to ensure a hitch free execution of the project.
According to the group, “when governments talk about the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP), they point to a project stretching about six thousand kilometers, costing up to twenty-seven billion dollars, promising to move thirty billion cubic meters of gas every single year for economic gain.
“But behind all these, a simple truth is buried, that the multi-billion-dollar project is designed to ship our natural resources away to light up European homes and power foreign industries, while everyday West Africans are left to suffer the true costs – environmental and social damages.
“Nigeria remains one of the largest gas exporters on the continent, yet more than half of our own people do not have reliable electricity. In neighboring countries connected to the existing West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP), the story is just as bad.
“Local artisans, small business owners, urban and rural families will not get power from this project. Instead, our coastal communities will bear all the brunt of environmental, social and economic risks while multinational companies and political elites split the profits.
“We cannot destroy our own backyards and ruin our people’s lives just to satisfy Europe’s energy demands that make more energy available and cheaper in Europe.
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The physical cost to our host communities is devastating. The planned route cuts directly through fragile coastal areas and riverine lands. As a result of the NMGP, places across the Niger Delta like Bonny Island, Ogoni, Oloibiri and other extraction points will further suffer damages.
“In the coastal corridors in Lagos, Ondo, and Ogun states, families will face land grabs, pollution of vital fishing grounds, destruction of mangrove swamps and disturbance of sacred ancestral sites.
“For the fishers and smallholder farmers who rely on these waters and lands to feed their families, the loss of their environment means immediate joblessness, poverty, and hunger, with no safety net or fair compensation in sight. This is the true cost of the NMGP, not the billions of dollars to be spent.
“Systemic injustice must not characterize the project. Decision-makers must treat the people who actually live on these lands with respect. Everything must not be done behind closed doors in wealthy offices, but also in community dialogues, keeping frontline communities completely aware about safety risks, environmental reports, compensation framework and protection/redress mechanisms to resolve land, livelihood claims and other grievances.
“Local farmers, fishers and residents should not be ignored when decisions are made. They should not be treated as bystanders but as fundamental right-holders to Free Prior, Informed, Consent (FPIC) – the right to say yes or no to projects that threaten their survival.
“Often, instead of listening to local concerns, the response from powerful actors is pressure and intimidation. Community members who dare to speak up about their basic rights, land and safety are routinely harassed, put under surveillance or branded as anti-development. This trend must be avoided with the NMGP.
“You cannot build an energy project of this magnitude, by bullying communities and taking away their livelihoods. When people are pushed to the wall, stripped of their land and forced to watch their environments destroyed for profit that they do not benefit from, deep anger and resentment inevitably build up.
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“On the NMGP, U-RED strongly advocates that the cost of the project must not be ted ignore local rights and relying on force which will only trigger agitations, conflicts and invitation of restiveness and instability across the region.
“It is time to stop prioritizing corporate profit over environmental sustainability and human lives. If we truly want a fair future, governments and developers of the NMGP must put people before profit, respect local consent and deliberately decide on not harming frontline communities for commercial interest,” the statement concluded.