Female herbalist appeals for justice #crsuperhighway

She is an herbalist, her crops(pharmacy) were destroyed early this year without notice or compensation for #CRSuperhighway

She is one of almost a million rendered landless by the January 22nd revocation order of the Cross River State Govt. If you own lands in Akpabuyo, Bakassi, Ikom, Bekwarra, Obubra, and other LGs stretching to the boundary of Benue State. Aside from the mass revocation, before the bulldozers were halted by the FG demand for an EIA many lost crops and sole source of income and feeding to bulldozers. Not one has been compensated in these harsh times.

The herbalist further said. I cannot become a thief.

No one is against any developmental project of the state but it is only fair people are properly consulted, national standards are adhered to (where in Nigeria is 400m width designated for roads and further 10km offset on either side?) and where due, compensated to ensure development projects actually achieve the aim of development and not heartbreak and poverty.

Please visit, and write to your state house representatives, Local Govt Chairman, councilors and and Federal Legislators to find out if you still own the lands, farms and properties you think you currently own. Ask them to call a town hall meeting to clear the air. Take a copy of the revocation notice and map with you. This is not the first road that has been built in Cross River State and it wont be the last.
Lets do things properly.

Please tag and share widely.

Nigerian Environment Minister Amina Mohammed now UN Deputy Sec General

Congratulations to Amina J. Mohammed, Nigeria's Minister of Environment on her appointment as the Deputy Sec-General of the United Nations. 
She will be missed! 

Cross River State, Nigeria Defends Destruction of Last Rain Forests and Displacement of Communities at COP22

In faraway Morocco, Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State Nigeria revealed he does not know the width of his own super highway or the number of communities he is displacing! The Governor, a Prof of Environmental sciences also brushed off the destruction of much of Nigeria's last forest reserves and carbon sink noting he did not see forests as he drove to the #COP22 venue.

The pink shaded bit is the superhighway and its buffer zone. 25% of Cross River State

This startling revelation was made by the Governor at the Climate Change conference in Marrakesh COP22.

Governor Ayade said to the media, "The Super Highway only takes 85 metres with 35 metres"

Governor Ayade further claims he is the ONLY Governor in Nigeria that is working, he said, "Normally, this is a time that no state is doing any developmental project"

He then asks for applause.
"for me to develop a six-lane super highway on 35 meters’ corridor across 261 kilometres, it calls for celebration not condemnation."

Governor Ayade carefully avoided mention of the published Cross RIver Govt notice of revocation dated January 22nd 2016 stating the super highway land seized for overriding public interest is 400km wide with an extra 10km seized on either side. 20.4km total. This is very different from his 35m - 85m wide claim.

RRDC an ngo run by Odey Oyama takes map and revocation notice to communities

185 communities have been dispossessed without due consultation.
The Morocco declaration of Governor Ayade which is at variance with the revocation notice of January 22nd throws more confusion on thier plight. .

Find attached copies of Government of Cross River revocation notice over. It is advisable to check if community or personal land has been seized in either the 400metre road clearance or the 20km wide buffer zone starting at Bakassi and emptying at Benue.

Cross River Govt revocation notice pg1

Cross River State Govt Revocation Notice pg 2

The highway has project (earlier halted by the Fed Minstry of Environment for proceeding without an EIA) has been beset with accusations of land grabbing, unprecedented human displacement, funding source opacity, deforestation, disregard for due process, and other issues yet to be responded to.

read more on his Morocco statements here.

for a background on the matter more here Pressure mounts against Cross River super highway project

and here Will the Ax Fall on Nigeria’s National Parks 

Affected led by Odigha  present 245,000 global & local highway protest signatures to the President via Environment Ministry

Video

Community member speak

CLEAR ROAD! The Nigerian super-highway project that threatens a million people’s homes - QZ

Almost anyone who visits Nigeria as a tourist or for business will soon realize that, after years of neglect, the country is in dire need of significant transportation and road infrastructure upgrades to help open up Africa’s largest economy.

Yet, despite the poor road network, a proposed transformative superhighway for Cross River state, in the southeast of the country (often referred to as “South-South”), is struggling to win supporters. The reason? Activists claim the proposed highway will have severe negative environmental impact and will likely displace up to a million people.

Just last week, a small group of activists were in Abuja to present Nigeria’s president Buhari with over 253,000 signatures collected from the affected forest-dependent communities of Cross River and other international supporters. They’re calling for the immediate de-revocation of the traditional rights of occupancy of all the affected by proposed highway and for a re-routing of the project all together.

read more at qz

World Stage News 21st April

TodayNG 26th September

16th March 2016