The Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), a non-profit organisation, has urged community leaders to consult with other stakeholders in their communities before signing any agreement with mining companies seeking to operate in their area.
The group’s Programme/Communication Manager, Mr MacDonald Ekemezie made the call on Wednesday, at a one-day capacity building held in Karshi community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The workshop was on “Community Step-down Training on Negotiating and Understanding of Community Development Agreements (CDAs)”.
He said that the general idea of a CDA was to promote sustainable and mutually rewarding benefits from mining projects, including pro-poor initiatives and other strategies which may be beyond the immediate scope of impacts for a project.
Ekemezie said that a CDA should address issues of clarity and transparency.
According to him, this will help all parties to clarify and manage expectations and establish a transparent and participatory framework with measurable outcomes.
He also said that increased participation of community members, government, and other stakeholders in the determination of how benefits would be managed and implemented should be part of the processes leading to the signing of a CDA.
Ekemezie said that the reason for the training was to empower the community with the required skills to be able to negotiate and enter into agreements that would be beneficial to them.
He urged the community stakeholders to ensure that there was clarity in any CDA saying that the community must understand what agreements they were signing.
In his address, Alhaji Ahmed Doka, District Head of Karshi Central commended CTA for the initiative, saying it would go a long way in helping them protect their community from exploitative mining companies.
He said that the community renewed their CDA with the mining company operating there in 2022, but noted that some of the promises by the company were yet to be met.
He said, “We renewed our agreement in 2022 and we agreed on some of the things they are supposed to do for us.
“They are supposed to tar some roads. But they haven’t and they are not here. They have done about three boreholes for us.
“We have been doing much engagement with the mining companies. Though we need to improve,” he said.