Stories from Blessing Douglas, Port Harcourt
The Executive Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) Dr Nnimmo Bassey has urged those in the frontline of climate change and pollution impact in Niger Delta region to promote restorative ecological justice and demand rehabilitation of the environment in all cases.
Bassey made the call while speaking on a theme: “Building Resilient Movements, Peoples Power, and Challenging Systems”, at the School of Ecology, held in Port Harcourt.
Speaking on the reason for resilient movement, Bassey noted that the rights of human have been totally destroyed, stressing that “exploitation of nature is a reflection of the unjust relations between the people, social crisis in society, political, gender, economic, etc”.
On the right to a safe environment, the renowned environmentalist explained that “Having a safe environment is prerequisite for enjoyment of the right to life because survival of humans is intertwined with the survival of other species”.
He explained that “The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights at its Article 24 stipulates that all Africans shall have a right to a safe and satisfactory environment in which to develop. This Charter has been domesticated by Nigeria and helps to close the lacuna left by the current Constitution with regards to environmental rights”.
He said the crime of ecocide once adopted will provide a platform for holding polluters accountable in the Niger Delta and other regions.
Also, Bassey noted that the human right to water and sanitation was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010 with a yes vote from 122 countries and 41 abstaining. He said “as with all rights, their enforcement is uneven as is evident around us. With gross pollution from oil spills, industrial effluent and other contaminants, the right to water and sanitation is merely on paper”.
On how to build a strong resilience to ensure a cleaner and sustained environment, the environmentalist said “Anything that works against Mother Earth is crass, blind exploitation and must be overturned. Our organising position must be to terminate the barbaric exploitation of Mother Earth and peoples by showing that to engage in such exploitation is to eat the fingers that feed us”.
He said: “A people in a movement must have a clear picture of what success may look like. we are seeking to build people power to challenge the current exploitative system where capital and brute force reign. While the system rapaciously inflicts violence on humans, other beings, and the ecosystems, it is clear to us that sustain-able resistance must be non-violent”.
Addressing participants at the ecology school, Bassey stressed “We must always bear in mind that for a movement to be successful it must have a clear target and be built as an agent of change. It must not be inflexible in terms of tactics and certainly not monolithic. Diversity and inclusion are the keys to resilience and strength.
We must also bear in mind that movements are learning spaces where struggles, successes, failures, and lessons are shared. Here we learn what worked elsewhere and what did not work. Movements require discipline and participants must avoid rash decisions bearing in mind the implications such decisions would have on the collective”, he added.
