By Naomi Sharang
Some communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have tasked mining companies to be transparent in carrying out Community Development Agreements (CDAs) with host communities.
The communities include Kubwa village, Byazhin and Gbazango in Bwari Area Council.
Mr Mustapha Tanko, Special Adviser to the Chairman of Bwari Area Council, Mr John Gabaya, made the call on behalf of the communities on Saturday at a community step-down training on negotiation and understanding Community Development Agreements (CDA), in Abuja.
The event was organised by Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA).
Tanko lamented the inability of mining companies to execute projects earmarked in agreements with host communities and urged them to be transparent in their dealings with the communities.
He decried situations where mining companies draft agreements without the input of stakeholders and not specifying community projects to be executed for the benefit of the people, and give such documents to uneducated traditional rulers to sign on behalf of the community.
“We want the companies to be transparent; let them come, let us sit down, rewrite the agreements or review the agreements.
“The projects they are supposed to carry out, let it be specified,” Tanko said.
Also speaking, Chief of Byazhin, Ezekiel Kaura, appreciated the group for the step-down training.
Kaura, who spoke through the acting District Head of Kubwa, Bala Yakubu, appealed to the companies to execute projects that would be beneficial to the communities.
On his part, Programme Manager of CTA, Mr MacDonald Ekemezie, urged the companies to be transparent and accountable.
“They should work with the people, and they should treat people well.
“They should let the people benefit from the natural resources that God has blessed them with and not just coming to take away and not giving anything to the community,” Ekemezie said.
He called on the mining companies to be responsible in implementing to the latter, agreements they sign with the communities.(NAN)
