Author: Constance Meju

As concerned Niger Deltans and environmental activists within and outside the country continue to kick against the clandestine moves by oil majors in the country to divest onshore for off shore operations, oil host communities in Abia and Rivers states whose areas have already been divested, are calling on the federal government to revisit the pull-out while knocking the new operators for lacking both technical ability and respect for their hosts. A visit to Obehi in Abia State where a dialogue session was held with members of oil host communities on May 21, 2024, revealed that contrary to claims by…

Civil Society activists in the Niger Delta have called for the release of the report of the federal government forensic investigation on activities at the Niger Delta Development Commission following revelations of massive corruption in the intervention agency. Stakeholders at the 2024 Situation Room put together by HEDA in collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC in Port Harcourt Thursday April 18, 2024, decried the silence over the report to a critical agency to develop Niger Delta communities. Raising the call, Comrade Celestine Akpobari, member of the governing board of HYPRE lamented that everything in the region is being…

Journalists have been challenged to project Niger Delta reality to attract needed attention at national and international levels. The charge was made by the head of programme, Programme, Search For Common Ground, Mr Yacante Agbagadjan, at the opening of a one-week training of journalists by SFCG in Warri, Delta State, March 18-22. Mr. Agbagadjan told the journalists selected from traditional and social media, that they occupy a special position in society to be able to help bring about positive change to the region currently facing a myriad of challenges. Said he, “There are a lot of issues in the Niger…

It was 5.45pm but a housewife and mother of five was yet to feed on the day internationally dedicated to celebrate women, March 8, 2024. While women across the globe celebrated, Mrs Patience Edo was on her sick bed and lack of money had not allowed her to access proper health or eat properly to aid her poor condition. “Hunger don wire me since morning,” she announced as she handed crumbled N100 note to a female relative, who was in her one-room apartment on a solidarity visit. She asked her to use the money to buy for her, a piece…

A coalition of women focused organizations working in the Niger Delta and knowledgeable about the evil trail of havoc wrecked on the region’s ecosystem and livelihood, have called on the Ahmed Tinubu government to halt the planned signing of the onshore divestment agreement with Agip and Exon Mobil.  In a joint press briefing held Thursday February 22 at the office of the foremost women NGO in the region, Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Center in Port Harcourt, the coalition demanded that there should be no divestment without proper federal government guideline on addressing the damages to the environment being exited and due consultation to with affected host communities.…

Community women in Aboh, Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State have raised their voices against wanton destruction of their farmlands by Fulani herdsmen who they allege, are uprooting their cassava and yams to feed their cows. The frustrated and aggrieved women lamented to National Point in two far to reach communities, Abuator and Okpai, that the destruction is pushing them to the wall especially, as they are still battling with the challenges wrath by the 2022 flood which swept away their homes and farmlands. “We are living in daily dread of destruction of our farmlands by the herdsmen…

The campaign for gender representation in decision making took a refreshing turn December 14 when secondary school students from three schools in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, locked horns at Visa Karena to argue for or against having women on decision-making platforms. The executive director of Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Center, Dr Emem Okon said the shift to school debate was to create awareness among the young on the need to understand and support gender equality ensuring mutual respect among both genders. Debate is a sensitization programme aimed at getting participants to spread learning from the opinions expressed to others…

The coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey has intimated Ogoni communities of the projects policy of integrating affected communities in the clean-up process, to engender ownership of projects in their domain. To this effect, Prof. Zabbey led a team of HYPREP scientists and community fisher folks on a ground breaking investigative study on the correlation between mangrove and fish attraction along Ogoni shoreline on Saturday, November 18, 2023. According to him, the primary objective of the study is to, “create empirical tree restoration baseline data with which the post-mangrove baseline data with which the planting,…

The Petroleum Industry Act, PIA signed into law 2021 to guide oil and gas activities in Nigeria continues to receive bashing. This time, Ogonis have described it as anti-people designed to emasculate oil and gas communities while giving ownership to the lessors-oil operators. At an event recently organized to commemorate the 2023 Ogoni day in honour of the Ogoni 13 murdered by the Nigerian state for demanding a better deal for the Ogonis from oil activities in their land, said the people said there is a danger of role confusion among the agencies set up to manage the industry in…

The Ogoni struggle has veered off course moving from a noble agitation for self-determination by an ethnic nationality to one being derailed by personal interests. That was the highlight of one of the side events organized to commemorate the ninth Ogoni Day. Ogoni personalities, youth and women gathered at the instance of Prof. Olu Andah Wai-Ogosu, an Ogoni leader and key environmentalist at the Swiss Spirit Hotel, Port Harcourt on Friday, November 10, 2023 to mark the day in commemoration of 28 years of the killing of Ken Saro-wiwa and 12 other Ogoni martyrs sparking serious reflections on the state…