An international civil society organisation (CSO), Global Rights, has urged the federal government and corporate organisations to uphold the fundamentals of human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) with regards to their operations.
Speaking Wednesday in Abuja, during a one-day Briefing and Training Session for Journalists on HREDD, the Executive Director of Global Rights, Abiodun Baiyewu, said many organisations operating in Nigeria engage in human rights abuses and neglect of their host communities, while government often overlooks monitoring their operations.
She said many businesses are not held accountable for their actions, especially as they affect human rights, lamenting that many communities are suffering from environmental pollution as a result of weaknesses in policy implementation.
She encouraged the government in particular and Nigerians in general to carry out environmental due diligence assessment on corporate organisations to ascertain if they are encouraging or upholding human rights and environmental due diligence.
She lamented that, from a research it conducted in 2024, under the sponsorship of the Africa Coalition for Corporate Accountability (ACCA), more than 9 million people die prematurely annually as a result of exposure to pollution and toxic substances.
While presenting the HREDD Policy Brief, Baiyewu blamed the pollution on businesses operating coal fired power plants, mines, smelters, oil and gas operations, steel plants, garbage dumps, factory farms and aqua culture operations, among others.
Also speaking, the co-chair of Nigeria Working Group (NWG) and Executive Director of Lite-Africa, Dr Joel Bisina, who was represented by Financial/Admin Manager of Lite-Africa, Tolu Oyero, said that CSOs and journalists must work together to uphold HREDD and prevent human rights abuses.