C/River super highway: RRDC sues over threat of displacing millions

A non-governmental organisation on environment, Rainforest Resource and Development Centre (RRDC) has filed a suit against the Cross River State government over the draft report of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Calabar-Ikom-Katsina Ala superhighway project. The organisation also joined the Federal Ministry of Environment, National Park Service and the EIA consultants in the […]

A non-governmental organisation on environment, Rainforest Resource and Development Centre (RRDC) has filed a suit against the Cross River State government over the draft report of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Calabar-Ikom-Katsina Ala superhighway project.
The organisation also joined the Federal Ministry of Environment, National Park Service and the EIA consultants in the suit filed last week at the Cross River State (vacation) High Court.
All parties in the suit have been served while September 14 has been slated for hearing of the motion.
RRDC is praying the court orders perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from entering the gazetted portions and buffer zones of the Oban Division of the Cross River National Park.
They also prayed the court to set aside the draft EIA report submitted to the Federal Ministry of Environment and declare it as null and void; and set aside the Notice of Revocation of Rights of Occupancy of all the piece of land along the superhighway.
The Executive Director of RRDC, Prince Odey Oyama, told Daily Trust in Abuja that the project threatened to destroy the Cross River National Park and the associated ecosystems, as well as place more than 180 indigenous communities and over one million indigenous people on forced migration.
He said remote sensing images have confirmed that the pathway of the superhighway project actually intercepted with the boundary of the Oban Division of the Cross River National Park project in not less than nine points.
He said they were compelled to seek relief from court following several threats he received because of the campaign.