Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The African Indigenous Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development, AIFES, has called on the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, to embark on a comprehensive livelihood and economic rehabilitation of the Ogoni women.
Executive Director of AIFES, Mr. Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, at an event to mark the 2022 International Indigenous Peoples Day, urged the federal government to sign on to the International Labour Organisation, ILO, Convention 169 which recognises the rights of indigenous peoples.
Pyagbara, speaking on the 2022 theme, ‘The Role of Indigenous Women in the Preservation and Transmission of Traditional Knowledge’, said the event was imperative to draw people’s attention to the issues indigenous people are going through and what government and state actors should do.
The former MOSOP leader who described women as the purveyors of traditional knowledge systems, demanded for establishment of centres for the learning and promotion of traditional knowledge transmission.
He lamented that indigenous people were the poorest people in the world, even when they have the highest concentration of natural resources, as the resources are explored in such a way that they don’t benefit the indigenous people.
“Women are the most backward in terms of education in our society. Particularly indigenous women are more disadvantage and the only way to encourage them is to give them free education.
“Considering the challenges some face and roles Ogoni women have played in the struggle, particular in terms of addressing poverty, HYPREP should devote some resources into building a strong livelihoods and economic program for the women.”
“We call on the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project to embark on a comprehensive livelihood and economic rehabilitation of the Ogoni women,” he said.
Pyagbara, who is also the Convener of the Ogoni Democracy and Development Forum, also demanded for free education for indigenous women, as well as promotion of indigenous knowledge.
He condemned the water resource bill at the National Assembly and called on the people of the Niger Delta to rise up against it because it will deny the people access to water.
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