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COMMUNIQUE OF THE NGO/CIVILSOCIETY DIALOGUE ON THE REPORT OF THE WORLD COMMISSION ON DAMS (WCD)
Organized by Society for Water and Public Health Protection (SWAPHEP)
with the support of Global Green Grants Funds,
Thursday 22nd May 2003,
at the Banquet Hall, University of Dennin, Benin City

PREAMBLE

The Society for Water and Public Health Protection (SWAPHEP), with
the support of Global Green Grants Funds organised an NGO/Civil Society dialogue on the report of the World Commission on Dams (WCD). The dialogue was held on Thursday 22nd of May 2003 at the Banquet Hall of the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

The Edo State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources who was the Special Guest of Honour sent his representative.

The Edo State Commissioner for Education, who was a special quest, also sent a representative.

The dialogue session was attended by a cross section of Civil Society organisation representatives, academics, students’ representatives, civil servants, professionals, representatives of communities hosting dams and the media.

Resource persons were drawn from the Environmental Movement in Nigeria as well as from the universities.

OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The dialogue session considered in detail various aspects and highlights of the WCD report titled: “Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision Making”.
The dialogue session commended the work of the WCD, accepted it as sufficiently addressing the problems associated with Dams in Nigeria and the world at large, and called for its adoption by all stakeholders in particular governmental authorities, as a basis for designing and implementing water and energy projects among other projects in the country.

The dialogue session noted the immense potential of the strategic framework adopted by the WCD report for resolving conflicts which may arise with respect to water and energy projects and calls on thegovernmental authorities to adopt these sets of principles and guidelines.

The dialogue session noted that though the WCD report dwelt on large/big dams and noted too that many of the dams in Nigeria are small dams; nevertheless the problems associated with big dams are equally found with small and medium scale dams; therefore the dialogue session called for the functioning of small and medium dams into the entire debate around dams and demands that all dams should be treated alike.

The dialogue session noted that the experience in Nigeria is that in virtually all the cases, no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study was conducted before the existing dams; water and power projects were constructed.

In view of these the dialogue calls for the immediate conduct of comprehensive Post Impact Assessment (PIA) on all such existing projects;

The dialogue also insists that no future projects should be embacked upon without an EIA, and without issues raised in such EIA being provided for.

The dialogue demands that no water and energy projects should be commissioned if the claims of all the stakeholders and the issues raised in the EIA have not been fully complied with.

The dialogue session noting the link between Dams and Debts calls for a probe of all existing dams water and energy projects for which loans were taken and which seemed to have failed in their execution. The dialogue particularly called for a probe of Ikpoba dam project.

The dialogue session noted the concerns of the communities around Ojirami Dam in Edo State and endorsed their call for a stakeholders meeting addressing their grievances and changing the name of the dam to reflect all the communities.

The dialogue call for the immediate settlement of all outstanding compensation claims arising from water, river basin, dams and
energy projects in Nigeria.

CONCLUSION
Finally the dialogue session elected a follow-up coordination committee with representatives of the stakeholders as members.

Hope E. Ogbeide
Director, SWAPHEP

Jaye Gaskia
Communique Committee