Group demands end to land grabbing through oil exploration in Niger Delta communities

Health of Mother Earth Foundation, HOMEF, a Civil Society Organisation that focuses on ecological/climate justice and food sovereignty, has demanded an end to land grabbing through mining and exploration activities in oil producing communities in the Niger Delta.

The Programme Manager, HOMEF, Stephen Oduware, made the call in Okoro-Utip, Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State over the weekend during a farmers’ training on land restoration against land grabbing.

Oduware, who noted that oil producing communities have lost their lands through pollution and resource mining, charged the people to begin the process of reclaiming their lands.

To achieve that, Oduware explained that the communities should generate data and have a baseline showing their economic and social status before and after oil spills.

According to him, “Okoro-Utip and other oil producing communities have lost their homes through land grabbing. They have been banned from getting to certain places where they do their fishing because of oil installations around the area; that is a form of grabbing.

“When there is pollution, communities will no longer use their spaces, that is grabbing.

“A particular company has come to occupy the space where people are staying or farming, that is land grabbing too. All we are saying is that, that needs to stop not just in Okoro-Utip but in entire Niger Delta where all forms of mining are taking place.”

He therefore said there should be environmental justice for the people because they have paid the price of the exploration and exploitation of the mineral resources, adding that a lot of people in the communities are down with chronic diseases, such as cancer.

Secretary of Okoro-Utip community, Enyina Wilson, narrated how they have been negatively impacted environmentally, economically and healthwise by oil exploitation.

He said, “The oil spills have affected our body system, you’ll see a person of 30 years looking like 50 years old person and many are down with various forms of sickness such as cancer.

“Our water is highly polluted, we are drinking poison and all the pipes here have ben polluted.

“Our fishermen could no longer see fishes in the ocean and sometimes when you come in the morning you will see dead fishes. When you go to farm you see oil and it will make us have poor yield; even our health is endangered.

“Some of our women who managed to get pregnant suffer miscarriage.”