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By Pius Dukor
Niger Delta Women have advocated for gender and accountability on clean environment as a panacea for economic development.
The women dropped the hint at a one day strategy meeting to develop tools for stakeholder engagement on gender and accountability for clean environment in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital over the weekend.
In her speech, the project advisor, Gender and Accountability, Mrs Bunmi Dipo-Salomi, expressed shock at the level of poverty in Nigeria due to corruption, noting that Nigeria as a country is rich but people are poor due to mismanagement and corruption, especially as it affects the environment, which also affects the women mostly.
Mrs. Bunmi Dipo-Salomi, who is from Women Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), stated that the pollution in the Niger-Delta affect the people daily but regretted that the people still suffer lack of gender and accountability, due to corruption and despite resources deployed by government to alleviate the suffering of the populace.
She expressed hope that change will definitely come if the people can mobilize themselves against evil and corruption in the society and engage relevant government agencies on clean environment.
In her remarks, the executive director of Kebetkache Woman and Development Resource, a non-governmental organization, Emem Okon, stated that her organization has done a lot of programs on different issues such as open government partnership and impact of flooding on women among others.
She maintained that the specific objectives for the event is to amplify voices of stakeholders, including women, on gender and accountability as it concerns clean environment, noting that more women, than one can imagine, suffer due to environmental degradation from gas flares and oil spills which are common in the Niger Delta.
The executive director said the meeting was to identify specific tools for stakeholders so that they can engage with relevant government agencies and organization for the purpose of achieving clean environment.
During the presentation, the resource person, Barr Chima Williams, enumerated various tools for stakeholders to engage on gender and accountability on clean environment which include advocacy, public trust, litigation, protest and research among others, while condemning the current National Water Resources Bill at the National Assembly noting that the bill is anti-people and that the people should reject it in totality.
They advocated for a clean and a corrupt-free environment as a panacea for food security in the region. The women expressed shock that in Ogbemaa community in Abua/Odual Local Government Area women are contributing money to repair the road they take to their plantation farms.
Highlight of the event was the presentations of a six point communiqué and the setting up of gender and accountability task force to tract report of incidents of corruption against women in the Niger Delta.
