PIA: NHRC fights to restore rights to investigate oil spills, pollution

From Tony John, Port Harcourt

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has declared that it is approaching the Supreme Court to regain the rights to hear and handle cases relating to oil spills and pollution in Nigeria.

The Commission stated this at a public presentation of Legal-Policy Analysis Report, entitled: “Legal-Policy Gap Analysis of the Petroleum Industry Act and Mobilisation of Citizen’s Public Interest Advocacy”, organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, HEDA Resources Centre, with support from the Africa Centre of Energy Policy, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Friday.

It would be recalled that in July 2025, a Court of Appeal, Abuja, in a unanimous perpetual injunction, read by Justice Okon Abang, ruled that NHRC lacked the jurisdiction to entertain complaints relating to oil spills and pollution in Nigeria because they are not human rights.

The court added that only federal high courts are constitutionally empowered to handle such matters.

The case stemmed from 2016 petition filed before the NHRC by Akwa Ibom State Oil Producing Community Development Network (AKIPCON) and the All Farmers Association of Nigeria in the state, but Justice Adeyemi Ademola in an ex-parte motion filed by the National Petroleum Development Corporation, which was seeking review of some powers of NHRC, said the commission lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the complaints before it.

Speaking, the Deputy Director of Legal, NHRC, Rivers State, Mrs Sarah Orage, said the commission is heading to the Supreme Court to void the decision.

Orage, who represented the Coordinator of NHRC, Port Harcourt office, Mrs Chinwe Okoroji, noted that the judgement only denies the people the opportunity to exercise their rights.

She said: “When it comes to environmental issues, you have rights. Whenever there is right, we, the National Human Rights Commission are there.”