Timothy Omobude 
African Law Foundation (AFRILAW), non governmental organisation, has urged both state and federal and governments to promulgate a mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) guideline for effective implementation of the National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights.
The group said companies’ CSR exists and functional in some aspects but that its schemes are underfunded, grossly inadequate and require an overhaul.
This was contained in AFRILAW’s report of its research on human rights violations in the oil palm supply chain in Edo state.
The report stated that host communities are often excluded from communal land acquisition deals between government and companies, noting that “this is a clear violation of their rights to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) as major stakeholders.”
Founder and chief executive officer of AFRILAW, Okereke Chinwike, said the public presentation of the research report is part of the activities under the “Promoting Human Rights in Palm Oil Supply Chain in Nigeria project.
Okereke noted that, “The project is being implemented by African Law Foundation (AFRILAW), in partnership with Zero Tolerance Initiative (ZTI) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), with funding support from True Cost Initiative (TCI).”
The body described the research as community-based, adding: “It was informed by the increasing spate of conflicts, violence and community protests against the operations of major oil palm companies operating in Nigeria, particularly in Edo State.”
Okereke stated that its research report recorded land grabbing, unlawful eviction, intimidation livelihood/farmlands, environmental pollution, unlawful arrest and detention amongst others.
He urged CSOs to build a coalition to conduct advocacy and policy engagement with policy makers on safeguarding host communities’ rights and privileges to be specified in binding laws and guidelines.
