Environmental justice (EJ) is a progressively advancing subject, social movement and practice, which requires fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all humans, regardless of sex, age, class, income, race, colour or nationality, in the development, management, implementation and enforcement of plans, policies, laws and regulatory practices, towards the protection and management of the environment in the course of socio-economic development programmes, including projects. It also requires equitable and thus indiscriminate exposure of all to environmental good and harm. It is an advancing social movement that advocates a healthy and eco-balanced environment, towards human wellbeing, sustainable communities and all-embracing sustainable development (SD) in the overall interest of society within our Planet (Mother Earth). EJ may thus be discussed within the rubrics of the twin relationship of the environment to development, in the ongoing effort of the UN to achieve SD around the world. Hence, this socio-legal study examines efforts of EJ Nongovernmental Organisations in the oil-rich ethnic minority Niger Delta region, towards greater wellbeing of the environment, humans and society at large in the region and beyond. The study makes a case for application of international benchmarked norms, guidelines, standards and practices on EJ beyond advanced countries, particularly to underprivileged areas of the developing world, such as the marginalized and neglected oil-rich ethnic minority communities of the Niger Delta region and other such deprived resource-rich areas of other developing countries.

Landmark studies and follow-up scholarly researches, as well as practical evidences around the globe on energy and major natural resources extractive industrial operations (EIOs), such as petroleum (oil and gas) and other mining and mineral resources EIOs, are consistently demonstrating that EIOs inhibit sustainable development (SD). Conversely, the findings of such foremost scholarly studies and their follow-up measures, as well as practical evidences regarding energy and major natural resources EIOs around the globe, are revealing that these operations may contribute to SD. In other words, EIOs may contribute to SD when they are implemented well, in conformity with international benchmarked standards and practices. In that case, EIOs are advantageous in the nooks and crannies of the world, when they are executed in a way that occasions socio-economic advancement in host countries, including resource-rich areas of such countries. In the circumstances, EIOs may be considered to have been implemented in ways that preserve the rights of members of the public, especially those that are adversely affected directly by extractive industrial projects, such as those of resource-rich communities, and when the benefits derived from these projects are directed towards overall public good in host countries. On this note, EIOs may contribute to SD in developing countries, through good environmental governance, towards generic good governance and overall public good. Considering the foregoing negative impacts and possible positive contributions of EIOs, this study will explore the costs and benefits of petroleum EIOs on the resource-rich and other direct negatively impacted host communities of Nigeria, in the framework of the country’s Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, concerning the development of host communities, and thereby arrive at appropriate findings.

As expressed in the first edition of this article, the Primordial House System of Governance of Primaeval Niger Delta’s Bonny Kingdom (also known as Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom or Grand Bonny Kingdom [Ibanise]), enhanced by natural law, serves as the bedrock of the civilization and good governance (GG) in the Kingdom. In Bonny Kingdom, the House System of Governance (also called the House System of Government or simply the House System) is a form of Public Sector Governance, which was originated, institutionalized and practised by the Founding Ancestors of the Kingdom. The initial period of this system of governance was the primaeval, primordial or aboriginal era of the Kingdom, which lasted from before about 1000 AD to about 1740 AD (namely a period of well over Seven Centuries). At the apex of the three levels or tiers of Bonny Kingdom’s Primordial House System of Public Sector Governance were three hierarchical categories of Paramount Natural Rulers. Simply put, these Paramount Natural Rulers were and still remain the Ikpangi-Sibidapu (Institutionalized Lineage Heads), Amadapu (Community/District Heads and helpmates to Kings/Monarchs [Amanyanapu]), and Amanyanabo (owner of the land/King). These hierarchical positions of paramount natural rulership, which have been in existence from time immemorial in Bonny Kingdom, are those of honour, traditional public service, trust, social responsibility and statesmanship. These positions were established, systematized and formally institutionalized by the Founding Ancestors of the Kingdom, towards the wellbeing of the people, Houses (House Communities) and entire Kingdom. This study employs socio-legal methodology to examine the House System of Bonny Kingdom and the role of natural law, namely proto-natural law, during the primordial era of the Kingdom, which era ended about One Hundred and Thirty Years before the establishment of Opobo Kingdom from its parent Bonny Kingdom, during the Bonny Kingdom Civil War of 1869/70. The study discusses the Premier Paramount Natural Rulers of Aboriginal Bonny Kingdom, and the identified Four Generations of Okoloama Ingie KiriFajie, meaning ‘Bonny Kingdom (Ibanise), as comprised of its Fourteen Lineages/Families/Houses’. From a historiographical background therefore, the study makes a case for GG, fair play, social justice and other harmonious ways of life in Bonny Kingdom, based on good, transparent, responsible and accountable stewardship of the Kingdom’s traditional rulers, towards the wellbeing of the people and sustainable development of the Kingdom, particularly in the realm of the apex traditional rulers, who are paramount administrators of the three levels of government of the Kingdom. These are namely the (i) organized, formally institutionalized and systematized Lineages (comprised of immediate blood relatives or closer family units), known as ‘Ikpangis’ (‘burusus’) of each Country House; (ii) wider extended family units, known as the Country Houses or Country House Communities; and (iii) the kingdom-wide (central level of) government. Besides, the study demonstrates how the aboriginal era of Bonny Kingdom underscores the Kingdom as a classic African primordial sovereign state and civilization, as well as the pride of Ancestral Ijaw nation, which contributed to the development and advancement of Primaeval Niger Delta region and beyond.

The Primordial House System of Governance of Primaeval Niger Delta’s Bonny Kingdom, enhanced by natural law, features as the bedrock of the civilization and good governance (GG) in the Kingdom. The Primordial House System of Governance of Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom (Ibanise), which is comprised of present-day Bonny Kingdom and Opobo Kingdom, was originated and institutionalized by the Founding Ancestors of the Ancient Kingdom, led by three hierarchical categories of paramount natural rulers of the three tiers of government of the Kingdom, during the Kingdom’s aboriginal era. The hierarchical categories are Ikpangi-Sibidapu (Institutionalized Lineage Heads), Amadapu (Community/District Heads and thus helpmates to Kings/Monarchs [Amanyanapu]), and Amanyanabo (owner of the land/King). The posts, positions or offices of these hierarchical categories, which have been in existence from time immemorial in Bonny Kingdom, are those of honour, traditional public service, trust, social responsibility and statesmanship, which were originated, systematized and institutionalized by the Founding Ancestors of the Kingdom towards the wellbeing of the people, Houses and entire Kingdom. This study employs socio-legal methodology to examine the Primordial House System of Bonny Kingdom and the role of natural law, namely proto-natural law, during the aboriginal era of the Kingdom, before Opobo Kingdom was established from it parent Bonny Kingdom, during the Kingdom’s Civil War of 1869/70. It discusses the premier natural rulers of aboriginal Bonny Kingdom, as well as four generations of Okoloama Ingie KiriFajie, namely Bonny Kingdom (Ibanise), comprised of Fourteen Lineages/Families/Houses. On this note, from a historiographical background, the study makes a case for GG, fair play, social justice and harmonious ways of life in Bonny Kingdom, based on the good, transparent, responsible and accountable stewardship of traditional rulers, towards the wellbeing of the people and sustainable development of the Kingdom, particularly in the realm of apex, peak or paramount traditional rulership of the three tiers of government of the Kingdom, namely the Lineage, Country-House and overall Kingdom-wide tiers of traditional governance in the Kingdom. Besides, this study demonstrates how the aboriginal era of Bonny Kingdom underscores the Kingdom as a classic African primordial sovereign state and civilization, as well as a pride of Ancestral Ijaw nation, which contributed to the development and advancement of Primaeval Niger Delta region and beyond.

There are ongoing international initiatives on how to protect the environment towards sustainable development (SD). These initiatives range from those of the United Nations (UN) to those of other international organizations and institutions. At the level of the UN, these initiatives are mainly its conferences and summits, which may be considered as the UN SRJRS Process. The UN SRJRS Process refers to the cities in which various UN conferences and summits on the environment and development towards SD have so far been convened, namely Stockholm, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro and Stockholm. So, these UN conferences and summits are the (i) UN Conference on the Human Environment, held at Stockholm, in 1972; (ii) UN Conference on Environment and Development, held at Rio de Janeiro, in 1992; (iii) World Summit on SD, held at Johannesburg, in 2002; (iv) UN Conference on SD (Rio+20), held again at Rio de Janeiro, in 2012; and (v) the Stockholm+50, which was held again in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 2022. The UN SRJRS Process and their outcome documents and progressively ongoing strategies are aimed at protecting the environment in the course of development, so as to achieve SD in UN’s member states and territories around the globe, in the interest of humans and society at large. Desertification, which may arise from deforestation, is an environmental problem associated with forests. Internationally, forests are regulated by the UN Statement of Forest Principles, 1992, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, 1992, the Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992, the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), 1994, and other relevant multilateral conventions, as well as international agreements and efforts associated with forests. This study thus examines the UNCCD, 1994, as a worldwide shared vision and a comprehensive multilateral environmental regulatory mechanism, designed to combat desertification, through relevant implementation measures, such as policies, laws, institutional regulatory frameworks and practices in sovereign states and territories around the globe, so as to protect and restore the world’s land, towards a safer, more just and better sustainable future, especially towards achieving relevant goals of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.