Environmental activists have criticized multinational corporations for massively exploiting Nigeria’s natural resources under the guise of investment.

They also criticized Nigerian government for giving the multinational corporations to exploit Nigeria’s natural resources at the detriment of the communities.

The activists made their views known in Tuesday at a Forest Carbon Dialogue held in Benin, and attended by civil society organizations, community leaders and other stakeholders.

The event was organized by Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Network—a coalition of African civil society organisations, grassroots movements, activists, and individuals committed to environmental justice across the continent.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), criticised several Nigerian state governments for carelessly signing away forest reserves to foreign interests without due consideration for the long-term environmental and socio-cultural consequences.

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He alleged that grown interest of multinational corporations in Africa’s forests is largely driven by the global carbon credit market.

“Carbon credits allow corporations to continue emitting greenhouse gases elsewhere while claiming to offset those emissions through conservation efforts in the Global South.

“Nigeria’s forests are under heavy assault. About 90% of our forests have already been degraded. Even our protected forest areas are not spared—they’re being targeted by illegal miners, loggers, and other exploitative actors,” Dr. Bassey lamented.

He emphasized that forest ecosystems are far more than just trees.

“Each tree supports its own micro-ecosystem. Cutting down a single tree disrupts an entire web of life. Unfortunately, many governments and corporations now view forests not as life-giving ecosystems but merely as carbon stockpiles to trade for profit.”

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Dr. Bassey revealed that in Niger State alone, 750,000 hectares have been signed away for carbon trading, while a Brazilian company has acquired 1.2 million hectares for meat production—actions he said amount to massive deforestation and displacement of local communities.

He added that similar deals are being pursued in Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River States, where governments are promoting such arrangements as investments and signing Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with foreign firms.

“These are not investments; they are systematic handovers of our territories to corporations interested only in carbon. Carbon trading is a false solution. It does not address the root causes of the climate crisis,” he asserted.

Dr. Bassey advocated for forest governance led by indigenous communities, arguing that they are the true custodians of biodiversity and holders of valuable ecological knowledge.

He condemned the trend of converting forests into monoculture plantations, describing it as a colonial legacy that undermines biodiversity and depletes ecological resilience.

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He called for heightened public consciousness and vigilance to resist the commodification of Nigeria’s forests by multinationals and complicit state actors.

In her presentation titled “Community Science as Real Solutions – Why We Must Say No to REDD”, Interim Administrator, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Rita Uwaka, echoed the call for grassroots mobilisation.

She urged communities to resist efforts to erode their traditional knowledge and cultural identities through schemes that convert forests into commercial plantations.

“Forests are more than trees. They are cultural landscapes. Community protection of forests is key to safeguarding biodiversity and climate resilience,” Uwaka noted.

In his contribution during question & answer session, Omobude Agho, Coordinator General, Edo Civil Society Organisation called all and sundry to rise against every activity work against nature.

The dialogue also featured a panel session that emphasized the need for indigenous integration in global climate solutions.

Alegal firm, Festus Ogun Legal (FOLEGAL), has given the Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, a seven-day ultimatum to retract unconstitutional threats and tender a public apology to Mr. Peter Obi and the good people of Nigeria.

The governor had threatened that Obi “must not come to Edo without security clearance,” warning that his safety would not be guaranteed if he failed to heed the warning.

In a public statement issued through his Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua, on July 21, 2025, Governor Okpebholo reiterated that there is a need for Obi “to notify and seek security clearance from the Governor before embarking on any public engagement within the state.”

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However, the law firm, in a letter to the governor dated July 21, titled “Threat to Mr. Peter Obi is Illegal and Unconstitutional,” and signed by Festus Ogun, Esq., Managing Partner, stated that threatening Obi not to visit Edo State without security clearance from his office is not supported by law.

The law firm cited Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and some decided cases by various courts, which hold that a governor lacks the right or power to restrict the freedom of movement of any person without recourse to law.

The letter stated, “With respect, threatening Mr. Peter Obi not to visit Edo State without security clearance from your office is certainly not supported by law. Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) provides that every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom.

“Similarly, the Court of Appeal in Faith Okafor v Lagos State Government (2016) LPELR-41066 (CA) made it very clear that a Governor lacks the right or power to restrict the freedom of movement of any person without recourse to law.”

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The law firm described as preposterous the idea that the governor would subject Obi to any form of security clearance or approval before visiting Edo State for any purpose.

“It is, in fact, a gross violation of Mr. Peter Obi’s constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of movement,” the firm insisted.

“Considering the foregoing, we hereby respectfully request that you retract the unconstitutional threats and tender a public apology to Mr. Peter Obi and the good people of Nigeria,” the letter read.

“We are confident that this modest request will be met within 7 days of receipt of this letter. In the unlikely event that our request is not met within the timeframe, we may be compelled to institute a fundamental rights enforcement lawsuit against you, in the interest of our constitutional democracy and the rule of law.”

“We trust that you are properly advised and would act accordingly,” the letter added.

By Israel Adebiyi

Fela Anikulapo Kuti didn’t just sing, he bled truths. His lyrics, raw and volcanic, unwrapped the Nigerian experience in ways that no policy paper or commission report ever could. And in his classic hit “Confusion Break Bone,” he sang of a dead body caught between the indignity of abandonment and the cruelty of its mourners—betrayed in life and dishonored in death.

This week, that metaphor leapt out of vinyl and echoed in real life: Retired police officers, drenched in the Abuja rain, stood like withered monuments at the gates of Nigeria’s National Assembly. Their uniforms are long gone, their batons traded for placards, and their obedience—once unquestioning—now curdled into a desperate defiance.

These are the same men who once obeyed the “last order,” whether it was to disperse protesting students, to break up industrial actions, or to quell dissent with shields and tear gas. They were Nigeria’s iron fist. They bore the insults, the bullets, the loneliness. They were denied the right to strike, to unionize, or to say no. Now they are in the same trenches as those they once confronted.

And what a sight it was.

Elderly men—some stooped, others on walking sticks—stood in the rain with sagging clothes and heavier hearts. Their chant was not angry; it was haunting. Remove us from the contributory pension scheme, they cried. We are tired of dying poor. The Contributory Pension Scheme, a policy built with the pretense of reform, has become a gaping wound that bleeds out whatever dignity retirement is supposed to offer.

Retired Chief Superintendent Manir Lawal, 67, spoke with a quiver in his voice:

“We served this country faithfully. We deserve to retire in dignity. This scheme has impoverished us. It is our right to demand better.”

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But what is dignity in a country where old age is a curse? Where retirees slump and die in biometric verification queues? Where pensions are delayed like unwanted handouts, and where death is often the only exit from poverty?

This is not just the police story. This is the Nigerian worker’s tragedy. The nurse who gave 35 years to a state hospital only to beg for her gratuity. The teacher who moulded generations but now eats once a day. The civil servant who used to process others’ salaries and now doesn’t receive his.

Nigeria, it appears, is a nation that celebrates you while you bleed and forgets you once you collapse.

These retired officers are the faces of a broken promise. The very system they upheld has turned against them. The guns they once bore are silent now. And no sirens accompany them as they sleep on floors in the rain outside the so-called hallowed chambers of power.

Why does Nigeria treat its labour force like chewing sticks—use, discard, forget?

The Monday protest wasn’t just a cry for pensions. It was a funeral for faith in the system. It was a statement that even uniforms do not shield one from poverty. That after the medals are given and the rifles turned in, hunger becomes your new commanding officer.

We must ask the hard questions: Why are those who dedicated their productive years to protecting the country begging for bread? Why must every retiree become a lobbyist for their own entitlements? Why does justice retire the moment service ends?

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But even this heartbreak is not equal-opportunity.

While the average Nigerian retiree fades into the background of national neglect, the political elite write golden exits for themselves. In many states, governors—some of whom could barely pay salaries during their tenure—have enshrined laws that guarantee themselves lifetime pensions, fleet of cars, luxury homes in multiple cities, foreign medical trips, and even security details paid for by the state.

A retired civil servant gets a verification form.
A retired governor gets a diplomatic passport.
A retired police officer gets rain.
A former senator gets a seat at the next constitutional review committee.

The contrasts are obscene.

It gets worse. These looters of public legacy do not just walk away with the treasury keys—they pass the code to their children. Nigeria has become a democracy of dynasties. Fathers rig the system. Sons inherit it.

So, when the ruling class clinks glasses in Abuja over another fuel subsidy cut, or celebrates “pension reforms” that deepen inequality, who really weeps for the rain-soaked old men at the gate? Certainly not the elite who now fly private jets to Dubai, London, France and other choice locations, for annual medicals. Not the lawmakers who collect severance packages in millions after just four years of sitting pretty in power.

The average Nigerian worker retires into penury. The ruling class retires into paradise.

The old men in uniform have served their time. The question is: when will the country serve them back?

Even the police—agents of state repression in the eyes of many—are waking up to the betrayal. And if the state could do them this dirty, what hope is there for teachers, local government workers, secretariat cleaners, and the army of underpaid civil servants?

The retirees didn’t break the laws. They enforced them. They didn’t shirk duty. They endured it. Now, their tears join the long, sorrowful river of abandoned patriots.

One hopes the tearful protest of these police retirees does not go the way of other protests— powerful noise drowned by official deafness. Because beyond their drenched uniforms and trembling chants is a deeper truth: Nigeria is a graveyard of gratitude.

Let this protest mark a turning point, not just in police welfare, but in how Nigeria treats those who give their lives in its service. Because, truly, double wahala dey, not just for the dead body, but also for the country that lets its elders die in vain.