25022021 - Way out of Nigeria’s security problems

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22 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2021 By Davies Iheamnachor SENIOR Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Tuduru Ede in this interview, speaks on the reoccurring clashes between herdsmen and farmers across the country and how a holistic amendment of the Land Use Act can effectively tackle the problem. He also speaks on the agitation by oilbearing communities and other national issues. Excerpts: IN recent times, cult-related killings have been on the increase in Rivers and some other states in the Niger-Delta area. How can this be checked? Cult killings and restiveness arising from cult-related activities have been on the rise and this is traceable to some politicians. Unemployment, opportunities for self-actualisation of our youths are also responsible for the rise in cult activities in the region. When some of us left secondary school in the late 70s, we had the opportunity to work anywhere we wanted. We got employed without knowing anybody. I think one of the ways to tackle the problem is for government to come up with worthwhile programmes to engage the youths. Do you think new laws should be made or enforcement of existing ones should be given more attention in order to end this menace? Enforcement of law and making of additional laws will not really solve the problems of the society. Take for instance, immediately after the civil war, laws relating to armed robbery were enacted, but people also forget that there have been laws governing armed robbery. Those days, they used to call it Highway Robbery. If you look at the Tribunal set up pursuant to the robbery laws that were enacted by the Federal Government, has it reduced armed robbery? It has even accentuated it. So it is not a matter of making new laws. I agree on enforcement, but it is also the business of the society to give out information to the law enforcement agencies about cult and criminal activities. Don’t also forget that sometimes, those who pass information are also given out by the security agencies, who receive this information and that is why we have what I may term the conundrum in law enforcement. EDITORIAL Innocent Anaba ( Editor) Ikechukwu Nnochiri Henry Ojelu Onozure Dania 08152060944 HERDERS/FARMERS' CLASHES: Review of Land Use Act 'll ensure lasting solution — EDE, SAN The Petroleum Industry Bill has generated a lot of debate, particularly on the aspect of percentage of equity holding by host communities. How can oilbearing communities get a bill that will protect them? The simple thing is to make oilbearing communities co-owners. You cannot produce oil from a community and not make the people have a sense of belonging in a resource that is removed from under their soil. Communities should be made part owners of the resources. For instance, if oil well is struck in community A, you should be able to give the community opportunities relating to employment. I am aware some companies enter into MoU and GMoU with the host communities. They should, however, go further to say, if from this oil well we make N1 million, we intend to give back to the community something in the region of a given percentage, so that, if the oil no longer flows, the community will know that they will no longer get anything. I can assure you that when such is done, some of these agitations will be brought to the barest minimum. Oil spill is a regular occurrence in the oil-bearing communities from the activities of the oil majors, but most times, the regulatory agencies fail the people by not holding the oil majors accountable. Even when oil communities get court judgment, paying the judgment sum is often times frustrated by the oil majors. What should be done to make sure oil communities that suffer spills don’t continually go through that challenge? All the companies, with exception of one or two, are colossally responsible for the incessant oil spills in most of the communities, but they claim that the spills are largely man-made, sabotage or third party interference. It is not true. First, the communities do not have the technical know-how, the knowledge on how to tamper with those facilities. It is the company staff that go to the communities and collude with some persons to ensure that there are spills to enable them give out or get contracts. Again, if 1000 barrels of crude oil spills in a community, the oil company in collusion with the regulatory agencies like NOSDRA and DPR will bring down the quantity of the crude oil spill to about 500 barrels in order to escape payment of compensation to the people. It is even worse when they go to the spill site with armed escorts and exclude the communities. Part of the solution will be to make oil conglomerates pay judgment sums accruable to communities and affected landlords from the share they hold or they are If one section of the country uses the issue of herdsmen to say let all the people from a particular origin leave their place, there may be some reprisal from the other states to say people from this ethnic group should leave their place too •Ede, SAN obligated to give to the company through the JV agreements. All the oil companies have JV agreement with the NNPC. So if the National Assembly can go to the extent of providing for a kind of funds or making it part of the law that when oil company owes community, then NNPC should be made to pay, that will help the communities get their judgment sum paid on time. What is your take on what played out in the country following the quit notice given to killer herdsmen by Oyo State Government and FG’s reaction to the issue? It is a complicated situation. First, there is the provision for freedom of movement. You also have the freedom or Right to Life. If you put these together then, somebody should be able to leave his home and go to some other place to be able to find a living and occupation provided that person will make all efforts to conform with the rules and norms of the locality where he or she resides. The issue of killer herdsmen has been a problem all across the country. You and I know that to do a meaningful activity here, our people buy cows. So if you ask them to completely move, what do we do? Secondly, amongst the lot you will always find those who cause security challenges; robbery, kidnappings and killings. My attitude to it is that, the state governments and governors should actively engage the Federal Government, so they have a common solution. If one section of the country uses the issue of herdsmen to say let all the people from a particular origin leave their place, there may be some reprisal from the other states to say people from this ethnic group should leave their place too. What is the way out? When there is an issue, you complain and the authorities do not seem to listen to you, the best approach is to make public your concerns. For me, I commend those who protest when no listening ear has been extended to their complaints. I commend them because that is the only way they should go. I urge the security agencies not to terrorise them, not to cause them any harm. In civilized societies, when people protest, it is the place of the security agencies to shepherd them along and ensure that they are not attacked and they are safe; subject only to the fact that you can also give reasonable notice not seeking permission because I am aware that within the laws of Nigeria, if you want to protest or demonstrate, you don’t need to secure any permit from any place. But you can give notice of what you intend to do so that the authorities will ensure that traffic is not halted. Which areas of the Constitution do you think need to be amended to forestall looming ethnic crisis in the country? The most challenging aspect of the Constitution in relation to what is going on generally in Nigeria is the question of the Land Use Act. It needs either to be completely abrogated or to be finetuned to assure every community and every landlord of their right to use the land upon which they were born or inherited, just the way people exercise rights relating to property. It is not strange that we are from the Niger-Delta. That is what God has done for us. It is also not strange that people are born elsewhere. The best and most fundamental change which the Constitution will receive is if the Land Use Act is tinkered with. I say so because you are talking about oil spill which has to do with Land Use Act. If you are talking about herdsmen, it is about Land Use Act. If the rights of every land owner is protected and if the mineral laws do not say once oil is discovered, the land automatically belongs to government, the problem will be less. If somebody is not somewhere misinterpreting the law by saying that because of the Land Use Act, all land belongs to government, the issue of herdsmen will be less. You saw how the judiciary refused to be used to thwart the US election. What lesson should Nigeria’s judiciary learn from this? It shows that each of the three arms of government can function effectively without one overlapping into the functions of another. I can tell you too that our judges have done very well. The judiciary in Nigeria does not receive what it ought to have. So, it also tells you a lot about how our elections should be conducted. If there are no disputes, the case won’t go to court. The first point is to conduct credible elections. If we conduct the elections well and INEC do their job well, no case will go to court. In the US election, it was confirmed by the election agency that nothing went wrong, but in our case, INEC will be the first to say everything went wrong. C M Y K
Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2021 — 23
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25022021 - Way out of Nigeria’s security problems

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