(Ecofin Agency) - Warning European, American and Asian transnational agro-industrial companies, the Nigerian civic society said “Nigerian and African governments must rise to protect the people from his invasive land grab that threatens all life forms, especially the rural poor who are the best custodians of forest, food, land and water”.

Denouncing the land deals that “are mostly shrouded in secrecy by governments”, and describing the phenomenon as a “new form of colonialism”, Rita Uwaka, Project Officer, Forest and Biodiversity ERA/FoE Nigeria and Coordinator of Forest and Biodiversity Friends of the Earth Africa (FoEA), said it impacts not only the community people, but the forest and climate as well.

In her statement titled “Stop the land bazaar! Plantations are not forests’’, she says: “in the name of structural transformation, African lands are been grabbed by multinational companies for dangerous eco-business that violates the rights of mother earth. From Nigeria to Uganda and from Mozambique to Liberia, the stories are the same – the operations of these companies are rife with human rights abuses in communities that play host to them. The more land grabbed for industrial plantations, the more hunger declared on community people and territories, the more impact it will have on the climate”

She added that deforestation which in Nigeria mainly results from operations of multinational companies is the second largest contributor to climate change, behind gas emissions in the Niger Delta.

Souha Touré