Over 3,000 oil and gas host communities in the Niger Delta have threatened to file a $1tn litigation against oil companies and the Federal Government.
This lawsuit was in response to the damages caused by oil and gas exploration activities to the health, environment, and livelihoods of the people in the region.
The President of the Host Communities Network of Nigeria, Prince Barbs Pawuru, has called for an environmental, health, and livelihoods audit of the Niger Delta.
He emphasized that the oil and gas sector was about cost and benefits and that while host communities bear the cost, the oil operators and the government reap the benefits.
Pawuru said:
“At Host Communities Network of Nigeria, we are not even talking about benefits, but since you (oil companies and government) have destroyed our environment for over 60 years. You must carry out an audit, let us know the impact of your operations on our health, livelihoods, and environment, then we will demand cost.
“We are going to sue both the Federal Government and the oil companies up to the tune of $1tn, which is the worth of the destruction they have done to us over 65 years.
“We are suing them either here in Nigeria or anywhere in the world to get the money, so we can repair our communities. We are over 3,000 host communities in the Niger Delta and they have destroyed our land and our people. Many of us have died due effects of oil and gas explorations.”
Dike Nwankwo, a representative of oil-producing communities in Abia State, has stated that the local government areas producing oil are being ignored and neglected, while the oil-producing state governments take the 13 per cent oil derivative fund.
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