Women from the Niger Delta region have urged the federal government and other stakeholders to ensure that at least 10 per cent of the host community fund in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) is devoted to projects that would directly benefit them because they are most affected in a situation of oil spill and air pollution.

Different women groups that converged on Yenagoa, Bayelsa State yesterday for the sixth edition of the “Niger Delta Women Day for Environmental Justice,” also urged Niger Delta states and local governments to adopt the Gender and Climate Change Action Plan and formulate policies that would enable women to access financial and other opportunities that accrue to the region.

In a communiqué at the end of the dialogue, signed by Emem Okon, director Kebetkache and convener of the Women’s Day of Justice, as well as 10 other women groups in the region, they stated that the environmental degradation occasioned by pollution from oil exploration in the region affected the health of several women and increased child-mother maternal mortality rates. (Daily Trust)

Update news