Advocacy Centre

27/07/2026

23/07/2026

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY FYNEFACE DUMNAMENE FYNEFACE, PhD; EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, YOUTHS AND ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY CENTRE (YEAC-NIGERIA) AND DIRECTOR, YEAC COMMUNITY ENERGY AND DEVELOPMENT (YEAC-CEAD) AT THE “MULTI-STAKEHOLDER DIALOGUE ON NATURAL RESOURCE GOVERNANCE, JUST TRANSITION, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY” CONVENED BY CLEMENT ISONG FOUNDATION (CIF) AND THE AKWA IBOM EXTRACTIVE JUSTICE ALLIANCE (AKEJA) IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ACTIONAID NIGERIA UNDER THE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (SPA) II PROGRAMME WITH SUPPORT FROM DANISH INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (DANIDA) HELD IN UYO, AKWA IBOM STATE ON THURSDAY, JULY 23RD, 2026 WITH THE THEME: "ADVANCING COMMUNITY-CENTRED NATURAL RESOURCE GOVERNANCE AND A JUST TRANSITION FOR EXTRACTIVE COMMUNITIES"

Protocols,

I bring you greetings of peace, justice and resilience from the communities and young people of the Niger Delta.

I sincerely appreciate the Clement Isong Foundation (CIF), ActionAid Nigeria, DANIDA through the SPA II Programme, and the Akwa Ibom Extractive Justice Alliance (AKEJA) for creating this platform to advance accountability, community participation and environmental justice. I commend AKEJA for its bold advocacy, including its recent petitions to regulators and extractive companies, which signal a new era of community-led accountability.

I also warmly welcome our traditional leaders, women, youth and fisherfolk from Ibeno, Eastern Obolo, Esit Eket, Eket, Onna and other oil-producing communities. This dialogue belongs to you.

Today, we are not merely discussing natural resources—we are discussing people, justice, power and who benefits from our common wealth.

For over six decades, oil has generated enormous wealth for Nigeria, yet host communities continue to experience environmental degradation, unemployment, gas flaring, polluted farmlands and declining livelihoods. This reality makes community-centred natural resource governance an urgent necessity rather than an academic discussion.

From YEAC-Nigeria's experience over the past nine years, three key lessons stand out:

First, extraction without accountability is exploitation. Although the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 established the Host Community Development Trusts (HCDTs) to improve development through the 3% Host Community Fund, implementation has been undermined by poor transparency, elite capture, exclusion of women and youth, weak community participation and limited public access to HCDT information. Communities deserve to know who manages these Trusts, how much money is received and how it is spent.

Second, environmental justice cannot wait for energy transition. Nigeria's transition to cleaner energy must not ignore decades of pollution. Communities affected by oil spills, gas flaring and environmental degradation deserve remediation, strict regulatory enforcement, proper cleanup, transparent decommissioning plans and accountability from companies, especially as international oil companies divest from onshore assets.

Third, a just transition must begin with communities. Climate policies designed without the meaningful participation of host communities risk creating new forms of injustice. A truly just transition must include local voices, protect livelihoods and ensure that no community is left behind.

To achieve this, I propose four key pillars:

1. From Consultation to Consent and Co-Governance: Institutionalize Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), strengthen community participation in HCDTs, ensure at least 30% representation for women and youth, publicly disclose HCDT budgets and conduct independent community audits.

2. From Palliatives to Productive Economies: Invest HCDT and NDDC resources in renewable energy, green skills, agroecology, community-owned energy projects, mangrove restoration and youth entrepreneurship, while replicating initiatives such as the Ibeno Green Youth Hub across oil-producing communities.

3. From Fragmented Resistance to Coordinated Accountability: Strengthen collaboration through alliances like AKEJA, promote joint advocacy, community scorecards, evidence-based monitoring and engagement with the National Assembly, regulators and financial institutions to improve accountability throughout the extractive sector.

4. From Resource Extraction to Resource Democracy: Improve fiscal transparency by tracking revenues from extraction to community development so citizens understand how much is generated, allocated and invested in their communities.

Young people must not only bear the burden of extraction but also lead the solutions. Their growing role in policy engagement and accountability demonstrates that the future of natural resource governance must be youth-driven and inclusive.

As we deliberate today, I encourage us to agree on three practical outcomes:

- Establish a Community Accountability Framework for HCDTs that guarantees transparency, gender inclusion and annual public reporting.
- Create a State Multi-Stakeholder Platform on Just Transition involving communities, government, regulators and companies to develop an inclusive Just Transition Plan for Akwa Ibom.
- Support community-led action plans on environmental monitoring, ecosystem restoration and sustained advocacy beyond this dialogue.

Finally, the oil beneath our soil is finite, but the dignity and rights of our people must endure. The real measure of a just transition is whether communities such as Ibeno, Eastern Obolo, Eket and other extractive areas transition with dignity, opportunity and environmental justice.

Let us work together to ensure that no community is left behind and that this dialogue produces lasting actions that promote accountability, sustainable development and justice for present and future generations.

Thank you.

08/07/2026

UPDATES ON HALLIBURTON'S PLANNED DESTRUCTION OF EXPIRED EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS IN KPORGHOR COMMUNITY

We at the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) have just finished speaking with the Chairman of the Kporghor Council of Chiefs and Elders. He said he is not aware that this exercise is being planned for ex*****on in the community today. He noted that such exercises have been carried out a few times in the past, but that a three-day operation starting today through Friday, July 10, is something they are not aware of.

I, Dr. Fyneface Dumnamenw also spoke with a prominent son of the community yesterday, July 7. He said he is not aware of the current plans by Halliburton to destroy the explosive materials in the community over three consecutive days. He, however, confirmed that isolated destruction of explosive materials has been carried out in the community over the years. He said the company claimed to take the materials far into the creeks where they would not disturb humans and their concerns.

These accounts indicate that the company has not engaged members of the community in a town hall meeting. Instead, it rushed to the police to seek protection and facilitated the issuance of a press statement on its behalf, while neglecting members of the affected community who are to bear the impacts of the destruction of the explosive materials.

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) should resist attempts by oil companies or any other group to use it as cover when due process has not been followed.

YEAC-Nigeria reaffirms its call for the suspension of this exercise until the right thing is done and due process is followed. The Police should not provide security for the company to detonate expired explosive materials in Kporghor community until the proper procedures have been followed. These include: consulting the community and its leadership; carrying out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA); bringing on board all relevant government agencies to supervise and oversee the process; and providing some form of compensation and relief materials for those who will suffer the environmental and health impacts of the exercise in the immediate, short, and long term in the community and its environs.

We are told the Youth President of the community is making efforts to speak with us and we will update you after speaking with him as the Advocacy Centre continues to monitor developments in the community whether Halliburton will disregard our calls in the media for the suspension of the exercise and carry out EIA and other due steps first. We are also monitoring situations in the community to see if the police will ignore our calls and provide security for Halliburton to proceed with the expired explosive materials destruction in the community this morning of Wednesday, July 8, 2026 as communicated by the Police.

Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface,
Executive Director, YEAC-Nigeria.
July 8, 2026. fans

06/07/2026

Press Release I July 6, 2026

YEAC-NIGERIA CALLS FOR EIA BEFORE PLANNED DESTRUCTION OF EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS BY HALLIBURTON

The attention of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) has been drawn to a statement issued by the Rivers State Police Command, signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Agabe Blessing Kaborlo, on Monday, July 6, 2026. The statement alerted residents of Kporghor Community in Tai LGA to a planned destruction of expired explosive materials by Halliburton Energy Services Nigeria Limited, scheduled to take place from Wednesday, July 8, to Friday, July 10, 2026.

We at the Advocacy Centre are concerned about the impact of the planned destruction of explosive materials on the immediate environment and its contribution to soot pollution that has drastically reduced in Rivers State. We are also concerned about the implications for the health of the people, as dangerous chemicals will be released into the atmosphere and inhaled, in addition to the deafening effects of the explosions.

We therefore call for the suspension of this exercise pending the conduct and approval of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report. We further call for public safety assurances, and the participation and involvement of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA). NESREA’s responsibility includes ensuring a cleaner and healthier environment for Nigerians. The Agency should be present to determine the impact of the exercise on the environment and to ensure that combustion is complete for a cleaner and healthier environment, and that there is compliance with EIA guidelines during the destruction exercise.

Furthermore, it is important for officials of the Rivers State Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Health to be present at the exercise to monitor the impact and implications on the immediate environment and the health of the people, if these measures are not already in place before the planned exercise.

Signed,
Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface,
Executive Director, YEAC-Nigeria.
July 6, 2026.

02/07/2026

More communities are reaching out to YEAC-Nigeria, the YEAC Community Energy and Development Ltd/Gte and requesting to be included and connected on its Solarisation of Communities Without Electricity (CWE) project. On Wednesday, July one, on invitation, YEAC-Nigeria's team led by its Executive Director, Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface visited and assessed five communities in Delta State for possible consideration for the project.

11/06/2026

Happy birthday to you Comrade Nnimmo Bassey. Congratulations from all of you at Advocacy Centre

11/06/2026

NIGERIA’S GREATEST SECURITY THREAT IS NORMALIZATION OF INSECURITY - YEAC-NIGERIA

The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, YEAC-Nigeria, is deeply concerned that Nigeria’s greatest security threat today is no longer just banditry, insurgency, kidnapping, piracy, or illegal oil refining and bunkering that thrive with the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the hands of non-state actors but the dangerous normalization of insecurity.

When abductions, bombings, pirate attacks, and oil spills stop shocking us as a people; when parents start budgeting for “kidnap ransom” like school fees and when pirate attacks become “normal news”, then the country is in a serious crisis.

Building on his analysis on the topic “Nigeria’s Greatest Security Threats: Are We Normalising Insecurity?” on SaveALife, 88.9FM, Port Harcourt on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface stressed that this seeming normalization of security issues in our society lowers the bar as the government is praised for “reducing attacks”, when they eventually do, instead of ending them; killing civic demand as the people and communities stop protesting because “what can we do?” as nothing changes afterwards and the normalization of insecurity also grows the criminal informal economy of kidnapping, insurgency, banditry and illegal bunkering that thrives where the state is absent; where there exist ungovernable and ungoverned spaces, making unguided citizens adjust to the normalization reality.

Dr. Fyneface said “We see the signs daily: the shift in language from “terrorism” for its acts to “unknown gun men” or “restiveness”, and policy drift where insecurity moves from being seen, treated and implemented as a national emergency to a mere permanent budget line not even religiously used to address the issues.

YEAC-Nigeria believes that some of the solutions to insecurity that the government needs to adopt should include the tackling of three layers of action simultaneously. These should include;

1. Resetting the Mindset of Citizens: Refuse to Normalize: We must reject euphemisms. For instance, illegal refining is economic sabotage and environmental terrorism, not “artisanal activity”. Every abducted student or persons or children like we have in Oyo State, Chibok, Dapchi, etc., every pipeline vandalism and oil spillage must be treated as a threat to everyone and addressed with dispatch. We call on communities, media, and citizens to support and build local early warning networks against insecurity, organised crime, and refuse silence over what threatens our existence because silence is consent and would be treason.

2. Fix State Response: From Committees to Consequences: Nigeria does not lack security agencies. We lack urgency, proactivity and accountability. We demand intelligence-led and technology-based policing over reactionary troop deployment after an incident has occurred; we demand fast-track prosecution of citizens suspected of involvement in security threats and sponsors of insecurity; we demand one united government voice from the federal to the state, local government and community levels against insecurity. The Advocacy Centre believes that a criminal economy dies when big sponsors are prosecuted, jailed and their properties forfeited to the state, not just their foot soldiers.

3. Replace Crime with Livelihoods: Attack the Criminal Economy: People do not choose involvement in criminal activities including artisanal refineries (kpo-fire) because they love crime. They choose it because poverty and unemployment leave no option. Security without development is temporary unsustainable peace. YEAC-Nigeria therefore reiterates support for the Niger Delta Modular Refinery for artisanal refiners promised by the federal government in 2017 and the legalization of artisanal refineries through the establishment of its July 27, 2020 proposed Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI) as part of Livelihood Transition Plan (LTP) for artisanal refiners to blue and green economy in Nigeria. PACORDI is designed and proposed to train ex-bunkers and artisanal refiners to run legal, integrated small-scale refineries with improved skills, legal income and reduced environmental pollution under government regulation to reduce youth unemployment, pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft, artisanal refineries, environmental pollution, and organised crime.

The bottom-line of YEAC-Nigeria’s submission is that security without development equals to temporary peace as improved security where youths are hungry and jobless is relatively impossible. We believe that Nigeria will only be able to defeat and mitigate insecurity when we shock the conscience, punish the sponsors, and give our youths legal alternatives that pay better than crime.

YEAC-Nigeria calls on all Nigerians to ask themselves this question: “What one thing have I normalized in my area that I am ready to stop normalizing from today? ”The fight against insecurity starts when we refuse to accept abnormal as normal.

Signed,
Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface,
Executive Director, YEAC-Nigeria
June 11, 2026.

08/06/2026

Press Release II June 8, 2026

*WORLD OCEANS DAY 2026: YEAC-NIGERIA CALLS FOR IMPROVED RELATIONSHIP WITH THE OCEANS FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE*

As the world marks World Oceans Day 2026 today, the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) joins global calls under the theme “Reimagine: Beyond the world we know, a new relationship with our ocean” for an improved relationship with the oceans for climate justice.

The 2026 theme challenges us to move from seeing the ocean as a distant resource to recognizing it as the life source we depend on daily. For Niger Delta coastal communities, this reimagining is urgent because our Atlantic coastlines, creeks, and estuaries face daily threats from oil spills, gas flaring, plastic wastes, and illegal fishing that destroy marine biodiversity and coastal livelihoods.

Besides, a major, subsisting threat YEAC-Nigeria must also highlight on this important day is the impact of pollution from illegal and artisanal crude oil refineries - locally called “kpo-fire”. These crude operations, though reducing, dump unburnt crude, toxic sludge, soot, and heavy metals directly into creeks, rivers, and coastal waters. The impact of this is severe as it contributes to causing;

- *Marine death zones*: Oil sludge smothers fish breeding grounds, mangrove roots, and benthic life, collapsing fish stocks that coastal communities depend on.
- *Water contamination:* Communities drinking or bathing in creek water face exposure to carcinogens like PAHs and heavy metals, leading to skin diseases, respiratory illness, and long-term health risks.
- *Climate and soot crisis*: Incomplete combustion releases black carbon/soot that settles on water surfaces, blocks sunlight, and worsens respiratory health in Rivers State and beyond. It also contributes to and accelerates climate warming.

This pollution compounds the damage from corporate spills and plastic wastes, making “Reimagine” a matter of survival for the Niger Delta where millions of fisherfolk, women, and youths hitherto depended on healthy marine ecosystems.

In line with the 2026 action theme “Strong Marine Protected Areas for Our Blue Planet”, YEAC-Nigeria is intensifying advocacy for expanded Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and stricter enforcement against organized criminal activities that contributes to marine pollution in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea generally and through its various proposed initiatives including the Network on Organised Crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea (NOCINAG), National Conference on Organised Crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea (NACOCINAG), Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI), The Doctrine Of PACORDI and Other Oil Theft Mitigation Mechanisms for Nigeria, Crude Oil Spill Alert System (COSAS), One Million Youth Volunteers Network of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters in the Niger Delta, Oil Theft Mitigation Mechanism through Solar Mini-Grids’ energisation and solarisation of alternative livelihoods opportunities in communities without electricity (CWE) in the Niger Delta, Nigeria Boarder and Coast Guard (NBCG), among other cross-border collaborations and data-driven advocacy of YEAC-Nigeria for a cleaner Gulf of Guinea.

YEAC-Nigeria calls on stakeholders, including the Federal Government, NDDC, NOSDRA, HYPREP, and international and indigenous oil companies, to:

- Accelerate cleanup and remediation of polluted coastal waters in line with UNEP’s Report on Ogoniland (2011) and the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission Report (2023) recommendations.
- Support and fund the community-led Marine Protected Areas initiatives, including mangrove planting to protect biodiversity and restore fish stocks.
- Strengthen monitoring and penalties for oil spills and marine litter to protect ocean health for future generations.
- Implement a Niger Delta Modular Refinery and Livelihood Transition Plan to replace illegal refining with legal, safe, and environmentally compliant alternative livelihoods.
- Support and institutionalize PACORDI as a multi-stakeholder platform legalizing artisanal refineries, tackling organised crime and pollution in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea.

We urge all citizens, civil society organizations, and the media to use today to our relationship with the ocean. Protecting the ocean is protecting our future.

Signed,
Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface,
Executive Director, YEAC-Nigeria
June 8, 2026

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08/06/2026

PRESS STATEMENT ON WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2026

The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, YEAC-Nigeria, joins the global community to mark World Environment Day 2026 under the theme “Inspired by Nature. For Climate. For Our Future.”

This year’s theme is a powerful reminder that the solutions to climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss already exist in nature. From the mangroves of the Niger Delta that store carbon and protect our coastlines, to renewable energy sources like solar, hydropower and wind that power a cleaner future, nature remains our greatest teacher and ally.

In the Niger Delta, we see daily, the cost of environmental degradation: gas flaring, oil spills, flooding, and loss of livelihoods. Yet we also see hope. Through community solar mini-grids, ideal waste-to-energy projects, and youth-led climate campaigns, we are proving that a just energy transition is possible when it is inspired by nature and led by the people most affected.

As Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, puts it: “We cannot build our future by destroying nature. World Environment Day 2026 challenges us to return to natural solutions, invest in climate resilience, and ensure that youths and communities in the Niger Delta are not left behind. For climate. For our future. The time to act is now."

YEAC-Nigeria calls on the Nigerian government, oil companies, and international partners to:
1. Accelerate the cleanup of polluted sites and end gas flaring in the Niger Delta.
2. Increase investment in community-led renewable energy and green jobs for youths and women.
3. Strengthen climate adaptation measures to protect communities facing floods and rising sea levels.

On this year's World Environment Day marked June 5 annually, let us be and act so that we live healthier, not only today but have a just, and sustainable future for generations to come.

Signed,

Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface,
Executive Director, YEAC-Nigeria.
May 4, 2026.

05/06/2026

PRESS STATEMENT ON WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2026

The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, YEAC-Nigeria, joins the global community to mark World Environment Day 2026 under the theme “Inspired by Nature. For Climate. For Our Future.”

This year’s theme is a powerful reminder that the solutions to climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss already exist in nature. From the mangroves of the Niger Delta that store carbon and protect our coastlines, to renewable energy sources like solar, hydropower and wind that power a cleaner future, nature remains our greatest teacher and ally.

In the Niger Delta, we see daily, the cost of environmental degradation: gas flaring, oil spills, flooding, and loss of livelihoods. Yet we also see hope. Through community solar mini-grids, ideal waste-to-energy projects, and youth-led climate campaigns, we are proving that a just energy transition is possible when it is inspired by nature and led by the people most affected.

As Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, puts it: _“We cannot build our future by destroying nature. World Environment Day 2026 challenges us to return to natural solutions, invest in climate resilience, and ensure that youths and communities in the Niger Delta are not left behind. For climate. For our future. The time to act is now.”_

YEAC-Nigeria calls on the Nigerian government, oil companies, and international partners to:
1. Accelerate the cleanup of polluted sites and end gas flaring in the Niger Delta.
2. Increase investment in community-led renewable energy and green jobs for youths and women.
3. Strengthen climate adaptation measures to protect communities facing floods and rising sea levels.

On this year's World Environment Day marked June 5 annually, let us be and act so that we live healthier, not only today but have a just, and sustainable future for generations to come.

Signed,

Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface,
Executive Director, YEAC-Nigeria.
May 4, 2026.
United Nations Economic and Social Council Federal Ministry of Environment UN Environment Programme in Asia Pacific