BEING AN ADDRESS BY THE AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES UNION OF NIGERIA’S RESPONSE IN BENIN CITY TO ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ACTION/FRIENDS OF THE EARTH NIGERIA (ERA/FOEN) FIELD REPORT AGAINST OKOMU OIL PALM COMPANY PLC.

The Edo State Council of AAEUN is in receipt of allegations made by the Environmental Rights Action / Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FOEN) against The Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc who currently employs more than 3,000 of our members.

By virtue of our position as the only registered Trade Union with jurisdictional scope to operate in Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc, and in view of the fact that members of this Great Union has always been included in the development and execution of the company’s projects, and management’s decision making activities, we felt compelled to call this press conference, because a lie repeatedly told is often misconstrued as the truth. It will be recalled that earlier this year, around June, ERA/FOEN rented a crowd to stage manage a protest against The Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc. Our Union does not condone this type of action at all.

In fact, as the State Union is a major stakeholder in this company, we cannot sit idle and see some persons propagate deliberate misinformation and misrepresentation designed to bring potential job losses to our members.
We, therefore decided to authoritatively respond to ERA/FOEN’s allegations directly as follows:

1. ERA/FOEN alleged that Okomu Oil Palm Company ignored a purported State Government Revocation order, apparently gazetted in November 2015. The Revocation notice in question, which is in our possession, refers to an area of land incorporating 13,750 hectares under a State Government Certificate of Occupancy and states that this area has been revoked from the lyayi Group of Companies. It is not difficult to conclude, then, that lyayi Group of Companies and Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc are two very different names. Furthermore, the total area stated in the revocation notice does not correspond to any area contained within the current C of O’s that the Okomu Oil Palm Company has in its possession. If ERA/FOEN had wanted to make a constructive contribution, they would simply have requested the Ministry of Lands and Survey to print for them all C of C’s, along with their respective areas currently in the name of Okomu as this service is available to anyone. Furthermore, the fact that this so called revocation notice is not even signed again begs the question as to why this NGO would go to the trouble of petitioning people to put pressure on the Government to close Okomu down, a company that has created more than 10,000 jobs for Edo State people, both directly and indirectly, over the past 40 years of its existence? It is obvious from the above that ERA/FOEN lacks any fundamental background information about the subject it chooses to write about. Also, the writer of this field report did not even bother to verify her information from the Ministry of Lands and Survey, Okomu Management or from our Great Union, which makes the report even more unprofessional and unethical to us and our members.

2. ERA/FOEN further claimed that over 60,000 people across 30 communities risk impact due to deforestation. Deforestation? The Federal Land Use Act vested ownership of all land to the State Government, and it has full control of all forest reserves within the State. It is thus interesting to note that an NGO that claims it has the interests of forests at heart, should state that 60,000 people are at risk of deforestation as a result of Okomu, when they know full well that Okomu has been farming strictly within a portion of the respective forest reserves in question that were officially de-reserved by the State Government, initially for other companies, between 10 and 20 years ago, as a result of their degraded nature, mainly due to the illegal encroachment into the forest reserve by farmers and illegal logging. These de-reserved land areas were then transferred legally over to Okomu in the recent past by the previous State Governor. Thus, one can only wonder what kind of agenda ERA/FOEN has, when it suddenly decides to act against Okomu, especially when 10 years ago, A and Hatman, the former owners, had already planted more than 700ha of oil palm, without even a whisper of discontent from this NGO! Also, the NGO should show due statistical proof of how they arrived at a figure of more than 60,000 displaced people when the independent environmental and social impact assessments that have been completed, according to the law through the Federal and Edo State Ministries of Environment, showed no such displacement, nor any migration of this size whatsoever.

3. Still on the Environmental Impact Assessment issue, the Agriculture and Allied Employees Union of Nigeria, Edo State Council is very aware that the Company has fully complied with the rules and regulations, as stipulated in Nigerian law. One only has to look in the Vanguard Newspaper of the 16th March 2016, among others, or to listen to the radio to have heard the jingle inviting any and all interested and affected stakeholders to a public meeting on the land that Okomu wanted to convert to oil palm. This meeting was called by the Federal Ministry of Environment, not Okomu, and was convened by independent assessors, as prescribed in law. It is interesting to note that despite ERA/FOEN knowing these facts, they chose to remain outside of the recognized legal path, and instead of registering their issues officially, decided to falsely accuse the company in the media without following due process in law. This is aptly demonstrated in ERA/FoEN’s unfounded lack of EIA certificate allegation. Contrary to their falsehood, Okomu does have an EIA certificate duly issued by the Federal Ministry of Environment and has been audited every quarter by the same Ministry for many years now, unlike ERA/FOEN would like everyone to believe. The certificate is freely available on the Okomu website on www.okomuniqeria.com and the audits can also be viewed at Okomu or at the respective Ministries of Environment as the company is obliged to give copies of these to the Ministries, by law.

4. We are very aware that Okomu and its neighbouring Communities within Okomu’s defined footprint have signed Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) agreements with the company. The signing of these agreements was also witnessed by officials of the Edo State Government and duly published in the media, more specifically the Nigerian Observer and Daily Independent newspapers. Furthermore, Okomu has in its last financial year alone spent more than N240 million on its host communities for developmental projects, bursaries and youth skills development programmes. Contrary to ERA/FOEN claims, we are also in possession of myriad copies of letters of appreciation duly signed by leaders of the various communities thanking Okomu for bringing development to their communities, more even than the Government has been able to do over the past years. These letters are also available, together with photographic evidence, on the company’s website and face book pages, as well as the company’s environmental dashboard.

5. ERA/FOEN should also understand that at least 50% of our members are indigenes of the various communities mentioned in their field report, as well as being employees of the Okomu Oil Palm Company. Consequently, we can, on behalf of our members, unequivocally state that ERA/FOEN’s accusations in all facets of their report are not only mischievous but are also seemingly borne out of black hearted mendacity or a misguided mission to see our Union fail, which we will never permit.

Again, as a Trade Union, it is our customary duty to defend and protect the oppressed. It is the fervent belief of our Union that an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Therefore if Okomu Management violates any public rules and regulations, the
Agriculture and Allied Employees union of Nigeria will be the first group to cry out. The same rings true for any civil society groups that prefer not to follow due process, and then proceed to throw baseless accusations out against a company that supports thousands of our members, yet purports to have overwhelming support for their cause, on the ground locally, but then have to resort to obtaining apparent overseas support for their flawed campaign through unsigned, faceless petitions.

ERA/FOEN’s report and protest against Okomu is not a true reflection of the situation on ground. It is misleading, inaccurate and designed to intimidate a responsible and progressive company and threaten thousands of livelihoods. No responsible Workers’ Union worldwide will sit idle and let this happen.

Thus, in conclusion, our Union demands that ERA/FOEN immediately desists from spreading any further unsubstantiated claims against Okomu oil palm Company Plc, and by implication, our Union, and immediately engages, constructively, with the Edo State Secretariat of AAEUN in order to obtain factual evidence of what is truly happening on the ground. If, ERA/FOEN decide not to take up this olive branch, then our Union shall reserve its right to begin organized protests against ERA/FOEN and to ask the relevant State agencies to call Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth to order to maintain sanity and civility in our society.
Long Live Agricultural and Allied Employees Union of Nigeria
Long Live Edo State of Nigeria

____________________________________
Comrade Benson Imasuen
Edo State Chairman