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PROTESTING
WOMEN CONTINUE OCCUPATION OF CHEVRON FLOW-STATIONS
Sustainable
Energy and Economy Network
July 22, 2002
Over three
thousand protesting Ijaw women from the Gbaramatu Clan and other
communities in the Niger Delta continue the direct occupation of Chevron's
flow stations in Nigeria's Delta State. The Ijaw are the largest ethnic
nationality in the oil-rich Niger Delta. In this
special update, Environmental Rights Action (ERA), the largest
environmental group in Nigeria, presents the voices of the protesting
women speaking from the occupied Abiteye Flow Station, in their own words.
"Chevron
has neglected us. They have neglected us for a long time. For example, any
time spills occur, they don't do proper clean-up or pay compensation. Our
roofs are destroyed by acid rain from their chemicals. No good drinking
water in our rivers. Our fish are killed on a daily basis by their
chemicals, even the fishes we catch in our rivers, they smell of crude
oil. Chevron know the right thing to do, they intimidate us with soldiers,
police, navy and tell us that cases of spill are caused by us. We are
tired of complaining, even the Nigerian government and their Chevron have
treated us like slaves. 30 years till now, what do we have to show by
Chevron, apart from this big yard and all sorts of machines making noise,
what do we have? They have been threatening us that if we make noise, they
will stop production and leave our community and we will suffer, as if we
have benefited from them. Before the '70s, when we were here without
Chevron, life was natural and sweet, we were happy. When we go to the
rivers for fishing or forest for hunting, we used to catch all sorts of
fishes and bush animals. Today, the experience is sad. I am suggesting
that they should leave our community completely and never come back again.
See, in our community we have girls, small girls from Lagos, Warri, Benin
City, Enugu, Imo, Osun and other parts of Nigeria here everyday and night
running after the white men and staff of Chevron, they are doing
prostitution, and spreading all sorts of diseases. The story is too long
and too sad. When you go (to ERA) tell Chevron that we are no longer
slaves, even slaves realise their condition and fight for their
freedom."
"Our
problem with Chevron started on June 10 in our river. We sent a delegation
to see Chevron and complain about our plight as a neglected oil producing
community. Instead of Chevron listening to us, the women, they phoned
soldiers from Escravos tank farm. The soldiers who numbered up to 14, met
us at the river and rough-handled us. They destroyed 5 of our boats and
wounded our people. We were tortured. When they saw that we were prepared
to die, Chevron later called us and promised to listen to our demand. From
that date, June 10, 2002, we waited and nothing was done. So on July 17,
2002, we decided to enter the Abiteye flow station and peacefully protest.
Our demands are genuine, even the soldiers who Chevron sent to torture us
can tell you that we are not violent, so nobody can use violence against
us. We are mature people and we are protesting in a mature manner. Most
times Chevron signed memoranda of understanding (MOU) with us and they
refused to meet the conditions. Even the environmental problems from
Chevron's facility are threatening us, and they have not done anything for
our local fisher women. If you want to catch fish now, you really have to
go into the deep sea and we don't have such equipment. In fact, I want to
say that Chevron is insensitive and callous to our plight. Out problem is
caused by them and we are now living in abject poverty. When we protest
like this, they just give money to a few greedy individuals and they think
that they have solved the problems. We are prepared to die." -Voice of Mrs.
Lucky Murade, 30-year-old, mother. "Chevron
is deceitful. They have deceived us several times and we know them better
now. We won't leave this place until our demands are met." -Voice of Mrs.
Juliet Tomfawer, 39 years old and mother. "We are
women from Kenghangbene and other nearby communities. Kenghangbene hosts
the Chevron flow-station (Abiteye). We are demonstrating here peacefully,
not armed with anything except leaves. We are peaceful. We are occupying
this facility because we are angry. We are angry because since 1970, the
company came here, we have nothing to show for the pollution of our rivers
and creeks, destruction of our forests and mangroves and the noise, and
the gas flaring. We have complained and protested. All our complaints and
protests fell on Chevron's deaf ears. We have nothing to show for this..
Look at my village from Warri to here, for an uninterrupted engine boat
drive is about 2 hours, and we don't have clinic, no good drinking water,
no road, no electricity and other necessities of life. Here, we have
married women, unmarried women, and small girls. We have old women, young
and small ones here demonstrating. Nobody mobilises us to do what we are
doing. We are angry. We sleep here day and night. We are denied our rights
as a people, to employment, good environment and so on. We will be here
until Chevron answers our demands." -Voice of
Chief (Mrs) Josephine Ogoba, 48-year-old and mother of 4 children. A
leader of the protesting women. WHAT YOU CAN
DO: Tell
ChevronTexaco and the Nigerian government you support the demands of the
women and their communities for a safe and conducive environment necessary
for their survival. Tell
ChevronTexaco and the Nigerian government to meet the women's demands for
jobs for their children, economic support for education and health
services, and economic support for fishing and poultry farming demands. Tell
ChevronTexaco and the Nigerian government you are aware of their past
practice of relying on the mobile police and soldiers to violently attack
protesters and that you demand a just and non-violent resolution. CALL or FAX
ChevronTexaco's Overseas Petroleum Inc. Please copy
any correspondence by e-mail to the Sustainable Energy and Economy
Network, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies at: seen@seen.org. For more
information contact: ENVIRONMENTAL
RIGHTS ACTION/ FRIENDS OF THE EARTH (FoE, Nigeria) Port Harcourt:
# 13 Agudama Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt Tel: +
Copyright © 2002 Global
Action on Aging |
