From Aba to Ugborodo: gender identity and alternative discourse of social protest among women in the oil delta of Nigeria

Abstract

From the outset of the 1990s, the Niger Delta became a hotbed of communal rivalries and violent protests by deprived oil communities against the alliance of the Nigerian State and multinational oil companies. Community grievances mostly revolved around issues such as ecological degradation, unemployment and dearth of basic social amenities. In 2002 a wave of protests by women from different ethnic groups led to the occupation of major oil platforms. This paper contextualizes the separate protests against the background of crude oil‐induced violent conflicts in the Niger Delta. It explores the various dimensions of the revolts, drawing on historical antecedents of gender‐specific social actions in Nigeria. Finally, it examines how the protests and occupation of oil platforms by women challenge orthodox wisdom about the autonomous agency of women in stimulating alternative social and political discourses and actions.

Notes

* Charles Ukeje, Department of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile‐Ife, Nigeria.

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the fourth plenary session of the 10th CODESRIA General Assembly held in Kampala, Uganda, from 8 to 12 December 2002. I wish to thank Drs Amina Mama, Charmaine Pereira, Joy Ezeilo, the editors and anonymous reviewers for their comments, and Prof. Adetanwa Odebiyi of the Department of Sociology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile‐Ife, Nigeria, for her critical inputs into earlier drafts.

The enormity of the logistic difficulties that the women experienced to carry out the operation can only be appreciated when it is realized that the Escravos facility is located entirely on an island surrounded by creeks, swamps and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. Indeed, employees of ChevronTexaco posted to the site arrive and leave by helicopter and/or fast boats.

Ijaw versus Chevron: women to the rescue, This Day, 2 August 2002.

Resource control: tension as Niger Delta women plan another mass protest, Vanguard, 3 August 2002.

Subject to frequent fluctuations, the exchange rate of the Nigerian currency, the Naira, to euro is 1EU to 145 Naira.

To forestall a hostage situation, ChevronTexaco evacuated personnel from Ewan Production platform, located 8 km offshore Ondo State, following invasion by Ilajes in the area. The company claimed that the protesters were not from their areas of production. See: Chevron evacuates staff from oil field besieged by Ilaje women, This Day (Lagos), 17 August 2002.

For a list of demands, see: Ijaw women demand N500m compensation from Chevron, This Day, 19 July 2002; The picketing of Chevron, The News (Lagos) 5 August 2002; Women occupy Chevron/Texaco facilities in the Niger Delta, Drillbits and Tailings, Vol. 7, No. 6, 31 July 2002.

There are conflicting figures about the exact monetary costs of the closure of the Escravos loading facility per day. According to Drillbits and Tailings, it could amount to a calculated daily revenue loss of US$7.8 million. See: Women occupy Chevron/Texaco facilities in the Niger Delta, Drillbits and Tailings, Vol. 7, No. 6, 31 July 2002.

As Chevron moves to resume production in Escravos …, This Day, Lagos, 25 July 2002.

Chevron, Gbaramatu leaders sign pact on seized flow stations, Vanguard, Lagos, 26 July 2002.

For details, see: Women protesters sack Chevron's export terminal, The Punch, Lagos, 10 July 2002, p. 9.

I would like to thank Dr Charmaine Pereira, researcher at the Centre for Research and Documentation (CRD), Kano, Nigeria, for introducing me to this very important, but definitely ignored, historical connection and reality.

See MOSOP Press Release, 20 June 2002. For full text of the ruling of the African Court of Human and People's Rights, visit http://www.cesr.org/ESCR/africancommission.html

See: Niger Delta women's protest were against vicious cycle of injustice—Clark, Vanguard, Lagos, 18 August 2002. It is important to note that Government has fuelled the controversy over the exact number of states comprising the Niger Delta. While the core Niger Delta states are Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States, the official gazette establishing the NDDC added six more: Abia, Akwa Ibom, cross River, Edo, Imo and Edo States. By so doing, the Niger Delta, in official parlance, has become coterminous with oil‐producing states. See Federal Republic of Nigeria, Official Gazette on A Bill for an Act to Establish the Niger‐Delta Development Commission, 1999, No. 46, Vol. 86, 12 July 1999 (Lagos, The Federal Government Press).

We've been pushed to the wall—Mabiaku, Vanguard, Lagos, 17 August 2002.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charles Ukeje *

* Charles Ukeje, Department of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile‐Ife, Nigeria. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the fourth plenary session of the 10th CODESRIA General Assembly held in Kampala, Uganda, from 8 to 12 December 2002. I wish to thank Drs Amina Mama, Charmaine Pereira, Joy Ezeilo, the editors and anonymous reviewers for their comments, and Prof. Adetanwa Odebiyi of the Department of Sociology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile‐Ife, Nigeria, for her critical inputs into earlier drafts.