The National Conference Standing Committee on Environment has recommended, to plenary, compensation for the people of Bakassi for the loss of their resources due to the ceding of their land to Cameroon.
The Chairperson of the committee, Sen. Florence Ita-Giwa, yesterday in Abuja stated that the recommendation was among the 15 resolutions of the committee at the end of its work.
The chairperson, who described Bakassi as very rich in oil and other aquatic resources, said that the ceding of the territory to Cameroon was a loss to Nigeria, particularly the Bakassi people.
“If we cede that landmass (Bakassi), we cede the territory away; then, this country has lost those natural resources apart from oil and aquatic wealth.’’
Ita-Giwa said that the committee also recommended the establishment of an environmental court to deal with environmental offences, among others.
“Another important issue we highlighted is the need to establish an environmental court; a court that specialises in environmental issues.
“If you commit an environmental offence, you’ll immediately be tried in that court. For instance, the law on gas flaring has not been properly implemented till today.
“If we have such a court it will ensure that such environmental laws are implemented,’’ Ita-Giwa said.
She said the committee had made 15 recommendations and would soon compile its report.
“The committee was able to achieve a lot within a very short period because when we came we grouped all the issues under environment into four broad issues.
“We have set up four sub-committees and gave them a time-frame to work and report back and they kept to that time.
“After deliberating on the sub-committees’ reports, we constituted a Report Drafting Committee to marry all the reports and draft them into one big report.
“This is one peaceful committee, there were no arguments. All decisions taken by this committee were achieved through consensus”.
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