22 August 2016 | Interviews | Land grabbing | Resisting neoliberalism | Forests and biodiversity | Gender | Extractive industries
Great victory for women in Nigeria against corporate power: interview with Rita Uwaka, from Environmental Rights Action (ERA) - Friends of the Earth Nigeria
Download: MP3 (5.7 Mb)
The successful strategies of Nigerian women, at local, national and global level, to reclaim their land back from corporations like Okomu Oil Palms Plc (Socfin Group) and Iyayi Group (rubber plantation company), rely on their knowledge about their rights and how and why they are disproportionally affected by corporate projects in the context of the patriarchal society. And also, on their conviction that the organization of women struggles can challenge corporate power and the corporate capture of governments, policies and territories.
Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) Economic Justice - Resisting Neoliberalism Program Coordinator, Lucia Ortiz, interviewed the Forest and Biodiversity Program Officer at Environmental Rights Action (ERA) - Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Rita Uwaka, during the Annual General Meeting of Friends of the Earth Africa that took place in Limbe, Cameroon, from August 18 to 20. The interview focused on a remarkable victory by women mobilized against corporate tree plantations (called “forest reserves” in Nigeria) at Edo State, in the Niger Delta region in the south of Nigeria.
Rita also celebrated the outcomes of the Annual General Meeting of Friends of the Earth Africa, preceded by its 1st Women’s Meeting, and made reference to the power of the demands of women for gender justice and their role on the environmental justice struggles.
Imagen: Lucia Ortiz
