Resisting with Love: Ogoni Women in Nigeria

By Kirthi Jayakumar

(Image Source: Babawale Obayanju / Flickr)

One of the largest non-violent struggles for environmental and social justice in African history was entirely the hard work of Ogoni women in Nigeria, and goes back to the nineties (Barikor-Wiwa, 2010). Working through an umbrella initiative called the Federation of Ogoni Women’s Associations or FOWA, these women came together and adopted a resolution declaring that the company Shell “cannot and must not be allowed in Ogoni,” and declared the company a persona non grata. Signed by over 300 women leaders in Ogoni, representing 57,000 registered members, this declaration decided that Shell would not be allowed on their territory to extract their mineral wealth (Keys, 2022).  

The beginnings

The Ogoni, an indigenous ethnic group in the oil-rich Niger Delta region in Nigeria, depend heavily on fishing, farming, and trade as means of sustenance. They have strong and deeply close relationships with their lands, and any disruption to the integrity of their lands automatically imposes a burden on their lives and livelihoods (Keys, 2022).

In the 1950s, oil was discovered in the region. Shell, the oil company, had been at the forefront of the oil extraction in the region. The Ogoni were unaware of the impact of oil drilling. Their lands were taken over by the oil industry – and initially, the Ogoni explored the possibility of enhancing their community’s prosperity through oil (Patricia, n.d.). However, in no time, they were able to see the extractive nature of the oil industry (Barikor-Wiwa, 2010). They neither received revenues for the oil that was taken out of their lands, nor were they compensated for the harm caused to their lands from such large-scale extraction. When land was taken out of their hands altogether, no compensation was provided for the expropriation (Patricia, n.d.). Over time, pipelines crossed over large stretches of the farmland, and poisonous gases often leaked into the atmosphere. Cleanups were left to the community to handle, and no compensation was offered. The impact on the (Barikor-Wiwa, 2010)waterways meant that clean water was not easily accessible, and women had to walk longer distances to get water for their homes.

Even as the environment was affected, the impact of the extraction was also gendered. Men were able to move out in search of work in urban areas, which meant that women were often left behind to take care of the families (Keys, 2022). As a result, they were exposed to the immediate health risks rather intensely. Further, in the Ogoni community, upon marriage, a woman is supposed to receive a piece of land from her husband to farm. This inherently offered room for independence (Patricia, n.d.). Often, bountiful harvests also gave women the economic independence to engage in other activities of interest, including pottery, dance, and singing (Keys, 2022). With the land being subject to oil extraction, women lost out on their financial independence, and this paved the way for conflicts within households (Barikor-Wiwa, 2010).  

On January 4, 1993, a series of protests began with the Ogoni people resisting the nearly four decades (by then) of environmental devastation by Shell, the oil company. As many as 300,000 people mobilized in this entirely non-violent protests (Keys, 2022). Women were key participants in the journey (Patricia, n.d.). FOWA was also set up in 1993, and joined eight other groups to constitute the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People or MOSOP together (Barikor-Wiwa, 2010). MOSOP became an umbrella organization for several Ogoni groups to mobilize in resistance. Of these, FOWA became the most formidable and strongest unit.  

Responding to the non-violent protests, Ogoni women were subject to violent reprisals at the hands of the Nigerian military and their Shell counterparts. Women found that their lands had been bulldozed, they were beaten, shot at, and injured. FOWA soon established units across Ogoni and expanded its activities to resist extractivism across the region (Keys, 2022).

Lessons for Feminist Foreign Policy

FOWA’s engagement in these protests is one of the largest mobilizations to address extractivism through non-violent protest. Their efforts marked a major transition point in holding large corporations accountable for their extractive approaches, and, at the same time, also presented endeavours to restore traditional practices that were under threat – such as pottery and basket weaving, as means of livelihood. They also set up avenues for more and more women and girls in their community to find independence through alternative paths, making up for what the loss of land caused them.

In the course of their resistance, they faced military attacks several times. FOWA mobilized to support their community, as more and more people within their fold began to be internally displaced. They relied on mutual aid for their collective wellbeing. The women distributed food and aid, and depleted their resources in the process. They then acted swiftly to absorb displaced individuals into their homes, and began to work with MOSOP to rebuild villages. The military continued their attacks all through this time. Women were also brutally targeted with sexual violence during these attacks.

Eventually, on April 25, 1997, FOWA passed a resolution against Shell. They also set up an office in Canada that year, and used their international sites as avenues for engagement to both raise awareness on their situation, and to enhance global visibility for their struggle. In doing so, they exhibited their agency to mobilize transnationally, to support their cause.

References

Keys, D. (2022). Ogoni Women’s Climate Justice Was Decades Ahead of Today’s Debates. https://msmagazine.com/2022/03/08/ogoni-women-climate-change-shell-oil-fossil-fuel/

Barikor-Wiwa, D. (2010). The Role of Women in the Struggle for Environmental Justice in Ogoni. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/role-women-struggle-environmental-justice-ogoni

Patricia, A-A. N. (n.d.) How Women Are Leading Change in Ogoniland. https://unitar.org/about/news-stories/stories/how-women-are-leading-change-ogoniland