From August 30 until August 31, 2018, the RLC Campus at the University of Port Harcourt organised the 4th Annual Public RLC Lecture on “Natural resource extraction, social relations and conflict in Africa”, with RLA Laureates Jacqueline Moudeina from Chad and Nnimmo Bassey from Nigeria.
During the two-day event hosted at the Center for Conflict and Gender Studies, Moudeina gave a lecture on natural resources and conflict in Africa, arguing that natural resource extraction, particularly oil, being rather a curse than a blessing in the African context. As solution, Modeina demanded the promoting of good governance of natural resources as well as the overall improvement of democratization.
Prior to the RLC Annual Public Lecture, the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) organised the 11th Sustainability Academy on “Extractives, Oceans and fisheries” in Abuja. Bassey talked about “Privatizing the oceans through pollution” emphasizing the devastating situation of fisher folks in the Niger Delta caused by oil companies and thus by the privatization of natural resources.
Along with Nnimmo Bassey and Jacqueline Moudeina, Dr. Babatunde Bolaji Benard, Legborsi Pyagbara, President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), spoke about poverty issues arising from land and water pollution caused by oil extraction. Evelyn Ewere Anyokwu, doctoral student at RLC Campus Bonn, presented her ongoing research on “Alternative Extraction for maritime Biorefinery”.
Please download the full report here.
