Women
Rivers Women: Need To Explore Local Content Opportunities
As concerned citizens signal the need for community leaders to include women of timber and calibre in community development issues, their interest is to have the community women properly represented so as to attract opportunities that would better their lives and those of their families.
According to a representative of the Erema Women Group, Precious Ibegwura, women have not been able to access anything from the state government, oil companies nor, from the agencies as a result of non-inclusion of learned women, who can stand to challenge some of the ills meted out on community women by their leaders’ wrong decisions with oil companies in their areas.
But why would women be excluded in the decision of their own affairs when in the real sense, they bear the brunt of the negative impact of gas flaring and oil exploration activities in their various communities, as could be visible in the devastation of their sources of livelihood,? Fishing and farming, have remained a puzzle, yearning for answer.
Surprisingly, for those in the Niger Delta region of the country, it is no longer news that many opportunities abound in the oil and gas value-chain, which women, especially those in the south-south region of Nigeria are yet to explore.
The Nigeria Content Act 2010, enacted by the National Assembly, is quite explicit in this regard as it makes provisions that could empower community women.
Unfortunately, so many communities are not aware of this important document that is there for the people to develop their communities. Community women have not been able to leverage on these opportunities, probably due to lack of monitoring and implementation of the Act, on which the Local Content Board was set up.
This is one way to promote women generally, and Rivers Women in particular, giving them access to increased opportunities in governance as well as being factored- in during community development issues with community leaders and oil companies operating in their areas.
For this reason, women have been charged to upscale their games by taking positive actions so as to see and have the needed change by a community development consultant, peace builder and an environmentalist, Hon Henry Eferegbo.
Seizing the opportunity provided by the stakeholders’ ‘Dialogue’, organised by Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Henry Eferegbo stated that it was time for women to organise themselves to request for local content opportunities from companies operating in their areas.
He regretted that community women have not been able to leverage on these opportunities, a situation he blamed on lack of monitoring and implementation of the Act, on which the Local Content Board was set up. He said, “In terms of implementation, as far as I am concerned I will score the Local Content zero, as they have not implemented what is in the Act that set them up.
He therefore, charged women in Calabar to be properly positioned in order for them to benefit from the 140 oil wells that will soon kick-start in the area. This, according to him, could be achieved if women with like minds in community development start to organise themselves by officially writing to companies on areas where the law has made provisions in which community leaders have failed to engage them.
Henry believes that if women make legitimate demands, these companies would have no choice than to invite them for a discussion in which they could begin to push further to see how this could trickle down to opportunities for them and their children.
While we commend the effort of the Executive Director, Kebetkache Women Development And Resource Centre, Emem Okon, for providing a forum that gathered together the community women, government and stakeholders that oversee the Women Affairs Ministry in Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States, in order to see how women can organise themselves together to begin to request for local content opportunities, we implore our political leaders to factor- in local content, so that local women can benefit from oil and gas companies in their vicinities”, he said.
By: Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi & Susan Serekara-Nwikhana