ERA/FoEN Empowers 30 Women In 15 Communities ln Edo

ERA/FoEN Empowers 30 Women In Edo Community 

...As Women Lament Taking Over Their Land By Multinational 

Iduozee Efe Paul, Benin 

 The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) on Wednesday, October 30, 2024, in Benin organised a one-day workshop for women in such impacted communities.

The one day workshop: ‘Promoting Solidarity Economy. Building Resilience,’ attracted women from no fewer than 15 communities spread across six local government areas of Edo State. The women numbering 30, were trained on Snail farming, mushroom cultivation, and soap making, with the potential to grow into a thriving local economy powered by women.

Commenting during the workshop, the Interim Administrator, ERA/FoEN, Rita Uwaka, said the workshop was aimed at empowering and supporting women from impacted communities through a structured learning and healing programme that would equip them with information on environmental issues, their rights, and their struggles with support for alternative livelihood options.

Uwaka, who lamented that the impact of deforestation and industrial plantation expansion in the Niger Delta region has impacted every aspect of life, said this makes it more necessary to train and empower the women, whom she described as most affected, on alternative sources of livelihood.

“Women in these communities are particularly vulnerable, facing violence, disruptions to their livelihoods, health hazards, displacement, and increased gender inequalities. This workshop addresses these challenges by providing a supportive learning, healing, and empowerment environment,” she said.

She continued: “The once lush forests that provided for us are disappearing, taking with them resources that have sustained us for generations. We face challenges in providing for our families, accessing clean water, and in holding onto traditions that are rooted in the land. These are not just environmental losses; they are also social and economic ones.”

Uwaka expressed her organisation’s commitment to building a solidarity economy where every impacted community woman has skills, resources, and a support network that values her contributions and ensures her sustainability.

The women being trained on soap making.

According to Uwaka, the one day workshop was not just to train the women but also to “provide a safe space for emotional healing, resilience building, and a collective solidarity economy for women impacted by deforestation and land grabs for industrial plantation expansion in Edo State.”

The Interim Administrator, assured the women that they would not be left alone after the training, disclosed that “a modest grant will be given to all impacted women by Environmental Rights Action.”

Uwaka, while advocating for women and the environment’s rights, stated: “Women’s rights are human rights; Plant Actions are not Forests. People Before Profit. We are Hurting. Save Our Forests. Avert Climate Crisis.”

In their various testimony on how their community has been impacted and suffered, Deborah Omoruyi of Ora community said: “Multinational took over our farm, now we don’t have land to farm. We go to other communities to rent land as high as N70,000.00 to farm. And once you delay in renewing your rent, they threaten you with quit notice.”

Osaremen Jimoh, from Odiguetue community also lamented that due to deforestation and industrial plantation expansion, they have no land to farm, adding that this is their major livelihood.

For Esther lguodala, from Ekuosa community in Ikpoba-Okha local government area, said their had been taken over by Fulani helsmen.

She said when they plant any crops before the time of the harvest cows will enter the farms and consume the crops.

Mrs. Iguodala said governments are not helping them to secure their land, rather leave them to suffer untold hardship.