By Michael Oche
Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) has urged mining host communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to take seriously negotiation of Community Development Agreement (CDA) with mining companies to ensure that indigenes benefit from natural resources located in their land.
The Centre also asked mining companies to respect agreements entered with their host communities.
CTA’s Programme Manager, McDonald Ekemezie made the call at a one-day capacity building workshop held in Kubwa community in the FCT.
Ekemezie observed that agreements were often signed by a few people in host communities, whereas a larger majority of such communities had no knowledge of the signatories and did not even have access to the agreements.
He said, “One of the takeaways from this training is that the three communities are in agreement. They agreed unanimously that their former agreement was not well tailored to the benefit of the three communities and now they are in agreement that they have to do it better. I also noticed that the chiefs are also in agreement with the people.”
Our Correspondent reports that the CTA is implementing a project on prompting rights of Abuja Original Inhabitants, funded by McArthur Foundation through Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED)
The Kubwa sensitisation workshop is part of stepping down of knowledge to communities for them to build their capacities to be able to negotiate beneficial community agreements.
Ekemezie said what the CTA is advocating for is “that people should know their rights and that CDAs should actually benefit the entire community and not a section. And that mining companies should be responsible implement to the latter agreements they sign with the communities.”
The communities include Kubwa village, Byazhin and Gbazango.
On what the mining companies should do, the CTA programme officer said that “they should be transparent, open and accountable. They should work with people, and they should treat the people well. They should let the people benefit from the natural resources that God has blessed them and not just coming to take away and not giving anything back to the community.”
Speaking to journalists at the end of the training, a resident, Mustapha Tanko, said the communities in Kubwa have not really benefited from the agreement reached with the mining company operating in the area.
Tanko who is also a Special Adviser to the Chairman Bwari Area Council said, “The benefits we are supposed to be given based on the agreement that was written, even the previous agreement that was written was without the involvement of the youth. No youth leader, no women leader, just our traditional ruler; people that didn’t go to school, only prepared agreement in their favour and given to them to sign and this is not supposed to be so that way.
“We are happy with CTA for coming to clarify us on what is our rights and what is not our rights. What we are supposed to stand for and what we are not supposed to stand for.
“In the previous agreement, based on what I saw in that agreement, there was position for administrative staff in that company (Zerberced Quarry) but up till today, over 15 years, nobody is working there as an administrative staff in that company from the indigenous people.”
He explained that the existing agreement with the company and the communities has expired.
“Even this one the agreement has expired, they just informed us to bring the project we want them to execute without a renewal of the agreement,” he said.
He said further that “We want the company to be transparent. Let them come, let us sit down, rewrite the agreement or review the agreement. The projects they are supposed to carry out, let it be specified.
“Even the scholarship they promised was not done. what was done was part of it, not the complete scholarship, the amount they promised. We need projects like road, town halls, schools.”
In his response, Chief of Byazhin, Ezekiel Kaura spoke through Acting District Head of Kubwa (Bala Yakubu) appreciated the CTA for the training.
