An environmental organisation, Peer Foundation, has antagonistic plans to determine a naval base within the disputed Stubbs Creek Wooded area Reserve in Akwa Ibom State, caution that the venture may deepen environmental degradation and heighten tensions with host communities.
The organisation, in a commentary signed by means of its Government Director, Mfon Gabriel, on Monday, demanded that Akwa Ibom and federal governments opposite the verdict and halt commercial actions inside the reserve.
The proposed naval base was once introduced by means of the state executive as a part of efforts to give a boost to safety alongside the beach and offer protection to crucial oil and fuel infrastructure.
The state Commissioner for Inside Safety and Waterways, Koko Essien, disclosed the plan all the way through a ministerial briefing in Uyo, in keeping with media reports.
Peer Basis argued that setting up an army facility within the reserve with out ok session with affected communities may undermine their livelihoods, get right of entry to to ancestral lands and environmental rights.
The organisation alleged that the proposal was once a part of a development of the usage of safety infrastructure to facilitate business actions within the wooded area, together with petroleum-related initiatives.
It often known as for the withdrawal of what it described as “harmful” refinery plans and the graduation of a community-led wooded area recovery programme.
Wooded area below force
The dispute over the proposed naval base happens amid longstanding considerations in regards to the destruction of Stubbs Creek Wooded area Reserve, which spans portions of Eket, Esit Eket, Ibeno and Mbo native executive spaces.
In a November 2025 document, PREMIUM TIMES documented how street building and the BUA refinery venture contributed to the lack of wooded area quilt and raised considerations about the way forward for the reserve.
The document, titled “How refinery and freeway venture burnt up Akwa Ibom’s Stubbs Creek Wooded area,” additionally tested questions surrounding compliance with the felony procedures for disposing of secure wooded area land from reserve standing.
Any other PREMIUM TIMES report, revealed in 2026, tested the environmental dangers related to the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Freeway’s proposed course during the reserve.
The document cited a find out about that estimated the local weather injury related to emissions from the proposed freeway course at about N785 billion, highlighting the possible price of additional disturbance to the wooded area.
The reserve is a very powerful ecological habitat, supporting flora and fauna and offering assets for communities that rely at the wooded area for his or her livelihoods. Most significantly, the Stubbs Creek Wooded area Reserve serves as a buffer between Akwa Ibom land and the Atlantic Ocean.
‘Neighborhood engagement will have to precede announcement’
Peer Basis mentioned the federal government failed to acquire the unfastened, prior and knowledgeable consent of indigenous communities sooner than saying the proposed naval base.
It argued that selections affecting the wooded area will have to now not be made with out involving citizens whose livelihoods, cultural heritage and get right of entry to to herbal assets may well be affected.
The organisation additionally warned that introducing an army set up with out ok network engagement may generate distrust and tensions between citizens and safety body of workers.
It mentioned the presence of a naval base close to petroleum infrastructure may additionally carry considerations about whether or not safety operations would prioritise the safety of company belongings over the rights and welfare of host communities.
“Nationwide safety can’t exist on the expense of ecological survival,” the organisation mentioned.
It described Stubbs Creek as a very important carbon sink and herbal barrier in opposition to coastal erosion, caution that clearing extra wooded area for infrastructure may aggravate environmental injury.
The crowd additionally mentioned the wooded area supplies medicinal assets and helps native livelihoods, together with actions tied to the realm’s herbal assets.
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Dispute over the reserve
The proposed naval base provides some other size to the longstanding dispute over the control, possession and building of Stubbs Creek Wooded area Reserve.
The Akwa Ibom State Govt has up to now rejected claims that the wooded area belongs solely to the Ekid folks, arguing that the reserve is run by means of the state below appropriate rules.
In a report revealed in January 2026, PREMIUM TIMES tested leaked executive memoranda that looked as if it would fortify the Ekid folks’s claims to portions of the reserve.
The dispute has additionally centred on whether or not the related felony procedures for converting the standing of secure parts of the wooded area have been adopted sooner than building initiatives have been undertaken.
Peer Basis known as at the state and federal governments to prioritise ecological recovery, environmental duty and network participation over additional commercial building within the reserve.
The organisation mentioned it might pursue its opposition thru felony and non violent way.
The Akwa Ibom State Govt mentioned it needs the naval base to give a boost to safety alongside the beach and offer protection to strategic infrastructure. On the other hand, additional main points at the proposed facility’s implementation, its exact location, and the environmental safeguards to be carried out weren’t supplied within the to be had announcement.
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