Lucky Obukohwo ReportingÂ
A coalition, Africa Climate Justice (ACJ), Africa Counter COP Assembly organized, in collaboration with the Gbolekekro Women Empowerment and Development Organization (GWEDO), has trained the women in Gelegele community in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State on building community stance on climate justice and resilience against extractivism in their communities.
Speaking at the one day training in Benin City, Comrade Cynthia Bright Ebiere, the co-host, said the Nigerian women often suffer marginalization in their various communities and so, they have to be trained to speak for themselves because they can tell how they feel better and not the men doing that for them.
“This capacity building training is being hosted by the Africa Climate Justice. It is the people’s Counter COP Assembly organized that actually works with community based Organizations , international organizations to carry out different activities in their communities to be able to empower the women .
“The women are being marginalized, they are not part of decisions making and it is not possible for the men to speak on the women’s pains because every issue that goes on in the community, it is the women that bear the brunt because they are caregivers.
“They are the ones that take care of the homes, they are the ones that make sure that the community is being protected and that is why today, with the host, being Africa Climate Justice and Africa Counter COP Assembly organized, we took up the initiative with the theme “Building Community Stances for Climate Justice and Resilience Against Extractivism. How will the women be able to build resilience without awareness? So, we decided to create awareness for Nigerian women in Gelegele community so that they will be able to overcome the issues of Extractivism as it goes in Gelegele because in Gelegele, they suffer gas glaring and we all know the negative impact of gas flaring”, Ebiere said.
On the part of the Executive Director, Caring Hearts Initiatives, Grace Obakina, she said the women in Gelegele must get information, be persistent, learn to relax their minds and save money as a way of enhancing community resilience through agroecology.
She said when the women are able to imbibe those four keys words, they would be able to pull through when they are hit with natural disasters with being unnecessarily be overwhelmed by them.
Speaking on empowering women and marginalized communities for climate resilience, Dr. Mfon Utin, urges the women to stop demanding money as means of empowerments from multinational companies exploring oil in their communities but they should demand education for their children because sooner than later, the oil will dry up and there will be nothing left to be extracted anymore but the education, their children can make a better living for themselves.
For Princess Victoria Umoh, while asking the women to make a policy document from the training, warns them against indiscriminate dumping of waste in our water ways, added that the repercussions are very devastating.
She said all these human unfriendly activities have a way depleting the ozone layer and which has led the climate change.
One of the participants, Mrs. Doris Obi, said said their rivers have been polluted and that they can no longer carry out their fishing activities and thereby subjecting them to untold hardship in the community.
She also said that they lack the needed social amenities despite the presence of the multinational oil firms in their community.