NIGERIA AND ISSUES FOR THE 66TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY - The National Association of Nigerian Traders NANTS

On 20^th September 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan will join other world leaders at the UN head quarters in New York, for a high-level meeting on the theme “Addressing desertification, land degradation and drought in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication”.

2. NANTS wishes to note that discussions on the above subject matter could not have come at a better time, especially for Africa, where strings of natural disasters, from drought to flooding, are ravaging the black continent. Bringing it home to Nigeria, there is the case of desertification in the Northern parts of Nigeria and flooding in the south-west, with whole communities being washed away by the angry flood or being overtaken by the desert. It is indeed time for fast and decisive actions to be taken, not just by the Nigerian government, but by the world as a whole, given that loss to Nigeria is clear proportionate loss to Africa and the world as a whole.

3. NANTS wishes to further note that as much as nature behaves like a beast which cannot be tamed, there are certain man-orchestrated activities, which contribute in unleashing this beast. In many African countries, governments have turned a blind eye while deforestation and forest degradation is driven by the imperatives of poverty as commercial exploitation. Poor farmers lacking capital and land seek quick returns through “slash and burn” clearance at the forest periphery. Consequently, countries like Nigeria has lost over 60% of its original forest cover.

4. While considering the problems of deforestation, NANTS also find it important to ponder over the current trend of massive land acquisitions currently going on in Nigeria, and which is also fuelling land degradation and deforestation as these lands acquired by corporate entities, individuals and foreign governments, run into hundreds of thousands of hectares. At attempted census catalogues the most current cases in Kwara State, Taraba State, Cross Rivers and much recently, Ogoniland in Rivers states, where small scale farmers are displaced from their farmlands and forests which are their means of livelihoods, under the guise of investment attraction and the establishment of economic and commercial ventures. NANTS Study titled “Land Grabbing and Related Practices in Nigeria: Effects on Small Scale Farmers”, provides concrete evidence and frowns at the ugly trend with regard to the adverse effect of these ‘grabbing’ activities on the livelihoods of rural dwellers.

5. It may interest Nigerians to further note that Cross River state government has on one hand, signed a deal with the state of California to offset its carbon emission by preserving its forest, and on the other hand given large expanse of lands to some Vietnamese farmers, to farm rice. This has left us with the question; what becomes of the REDD initiative? This is apart from the indigenous rural dwellers that are constantly being roped into one agreement or the other, without being consulted, with their rights and livelihoods easily brushed aside by powerful state-supported individuals or corporations. And in so doing, further enriching the already rich, while the poor just keeps getting poorer.

Therefore, on the event of this 66^th UN general assembly, the National Association of Nigeria Traders (NANTS) would like to bring to the front-burner, some of the pertinent issues that need to be addressed from a global scale:

1. Land grabbing and related practices, which is fast becoming a menace, and if left unchecked, will pose serious environmental and food security problems in Nigeria.

1. Desertification in Northern Nigeria, which costs Nigeria about 350,000 hectares of arable land per year. In the 10 northern states of the country, each year, the desert advances another 600 metres further south, forcing tens of thousands of farmers and their families to move off land that has become barren.

• Deforestation, which has cost the country over 60% of its original forest cover, with the 60% of the remaining forest cover, domiciled in Cross River State at risk.

1. Land Degradation is a daily occurrence in the Niger Delta, as a result of oil spillage. And as if that is not enough, the remaining arable land in Ogoniland, Rivers State, is at risk of being grabbed by the government, without consideration of the effects on the livelihood of members of the communities in question.

1. Flooding, in Lagos, Ibadan and other south-west states, killing hundreds of people, destroying properties worth billions and rendering thousands homeless.

While confidently relying on the ability of our President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, to project issues concerning Nigeria as the world meets, WE also expect Mr President to look inwards to ensure that the interests of Nigerians especially the poor are protected. NANTS hereby specifically calls on Mr President, to take full advantage the General Assembly to also table the above mentioned crucial issues and find avenues of collaborating with other countries, with a view to finding lasting solutions to these environmental hazards, which has been plaguing Nigeria in recent times.

For: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN TRADERS (NANTS)

Amala OBIOKOYE (Mrs)

Programme Officer, NANTS Agric Team