Niger Delta Women Adaptive Measures against Oil Spillage: Interventions & Effectiveness

Abstract

The study examined the plight of Niger Delta women living in oil-spills polluted environment. As survival strategies, these women adopted various approaches such as protest, community- based women organisations, appeals etc, to seek government interventions. The study was necessitated by the fact that despite many years of agitations against environmental degradation and its socio-economic impacts on the residents, no remarkable improvement has been seen in the living conditions of the Niger delta women who bear most of the brunt of the oil spillages, given their relationship with the environment. The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of these interventions and coping strategies adopted by these women against the challenges of oil spillages. The Environmental Kuznets Curve theory (EKC) was adopted to describe the connection between economic activities and environmental depletion. Data was generated from primary and secondary sources. While oral interview was used to obtain primary data, secondary sources include documentaries, books and other online publications. Interviews were conducted on 12 women and 6 men from each part of the Niger Delta mostly affected, especially Ogoni in Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta states.  Findings show that although protests, advocacies and interventions have taken place, these strategies have left little or no improvement in the living conditions of Niger Delta women. The study therefore concludes that governments, NGOs, Oil companies etc, need to be decisive in adopting more critical and rewarding interventions, to salvage lives in the oil-bearing communities. Among others, the study recommends as follows: Government should focus on service sector economy to reduce pressure on the environment; compensation should follow clearer legal guidelines, equitable compensation processes, and active community engagement to restore livelihood, also oil sabotage should be controlled by engaging perpetrators in meaningful economic activities; there should be functional legislation against criminal elements sabotaging interventions, Oil companies should prioritise compensations to women; and support them with skills acquisition, vocations, while community properly gets engaged for resilience etc.