Th e problem of the Superhighway in respect of the ecological integrity of the rainforest ecosystem and the livelihoods of the aff ected people has been a matter of great concern globally.
Th e siting of the project in sensitive ecosystem is likely to cause damaging environmental and social consequences that may not be mitigatable.
Th e legal requirements that mandatorily demand a full and authentic Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report has not been met adequately.
International and local experts have declared all four attempts by the proponent at producing an acceptable EIA report as being defi cient, non-compliant, fraudulent and environmentally defective.
Th e Federal Ministry of Environment has recently issued the proponent 23 conditions to fulfi ll, before commencing the project.
Th is conditional approval would appear to be outside the premise of the EIA Law, CAP. E12; the Land Use Act No. 6 of 1978 and, the National Park Service Act CAP. N65.
Consequently, several unanswered questions and unaddressed issues pertaining to the project have arisen and are summarized below.
What is the development on the matter of payment of compensations in line with the provisions of the Land Use Act, to persons and communities that have already lost properties on the Superhighway project? Th is matter is contained in the 23 conditions issued by the Ministry of Environment to be fulfi lled by the Cross River State government within two weeks which has long expired; What is the fi nal map of the superhighway project? Have the critical rainforest ecosystems and conservation territories been excluded? Th e alignment of the superhighway project amounts to creating a road corridor through the only intact pristine rainforest estate of the Cross River State, contiguous with the rainforest of the Cameroon Republic.
What assurance can the state government headed by Ben Ayade off er pertaining to preservation of the ecological integrity of the rainforest ecosystem in the present as well as the future? Is there a possibility that the superhighway project is the beginning of the end of the Cross River State rainforest and its rich biodiversity? To what extent is this project ensuring that people are not being displaced; losing their livelihood and escalating the number of already existing communal land disputes in the state? Outside the 23 conditions, must the Cross River State Government insist on borrowing and spending N200billion which it does not have, on a super highway whose investment bankability is questionably heading for a loss? What is wrong in fi xing the existing two federal government routes that cover the same destination as the super highway; especially when the federal government re-reimburses the states that repair FG roads? Th ese and more questions deserve answers from the Cross River state government.
If we must grow in peace as a people, then the feeling, thoughts and impact of developmental choices on aff ected citizens need to be considered and satisfactorily taken care of before project take-off ; else the government will only succeed in widening the inequality gap in the society; leading to more societal confl ict and emerging crime, insurgency and anarchy.
Ogechi Nnabugwu, Senior Programme Offi cer, Climate Transformation and Energy Remediation Society (CLIMATTERS), Abuja. email: ogennabugwu10@ gmail.com
ate among others.
