Red Flag: Oil-rich communities are absent from energy transition plans – S4C

Nigerian social and economic non-profit, Spaces for Change (S4C), has noted with dismay that oil-rich communities are absent from the country’s many public and private energy proposals and initiatives aimed at decarbonising the economy.

The non-profit made this known at the launch of its report “Energy Transition in Nigeria’s Oil-rich Communities”, which took place in Abuja on Friday, December 9.

S4C observed that transition plans from different stakeholders across the value chain made little or no reference to oil-rich communities.

The report also noted that militancy in oil-rich communities was fueled by this kind of neglect. Said militancy has impacted activities in the oil and gas sector. The benefits of natural resources are skewed in favour of governments and corporations.

Inclusion and environmental justice: According to the non-profit, host communities are no longer interested in corporate social responsibility (CSR) from participating companies. Instead, they want to be part of the energy transition process.

This is important because they are not just the custodians of oil and gas resources, they are also a part of the country’s population and are energy consumers like everyone else.

Transition awareness nonexistent: According to the report by S4C, decades of neglect and widespread environmental damage, have contributed to popularizing the environmentally damaging but money-spinning artisanal refining trade.

However, as the country makes a shift to a green economy, stakeholders have conveniently forgotten about local host communities.

The report highlighted that the energy transition plan (ETP) did not make provisions for the development of alternative livelihoods for local populations involved in this trade which is potentially a recipe for renewed agitations and violence in those communities.

The non-profit maintained that community support for energy transition is conditioned on the presentation of a clear roadmap for righting the wrongs that fossil fuels have done to extractive communities.

What stakeholders need to do: S4C recommended that urgent action steps must be taken to enable the inclusion of communities in Nigeria’s energy transition. Some of these steps include:

Resolve all environmental injustices before the country’s energy transition plan is fully implemented.

Inclusion of local voices and attention to the real needs of people to foster a stronger link between policy formulation and policy implementation.

Invest in alternative livelihood schemes for people in local communities with the highest levels of the artisanal oil refining industry to reverse the growing trend.