HOMEF Trains Ibeno Communities on Solidarity Against Hazards of Fossil Fuel Extraction
By Ekemini Simon
Farmers and fisherfolk in Ibeno communities have been trained on how to be united against hazards of fossil fuel extraction in their domain.
The training tagged as Cycles of Reflection and carried out by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) took place on Monday, October 23, 2023 at Okoroutip in Ibeno and is designed to help farmers and fisherfolk in the area have better understanding on issues of land grabbing.
The Program Lead, Stephen Oduware said the training is to help build a movement within the community first by helping them reflect on how their community was in the past, examine the presence and see how to forge ahead for the future by demanding what is due them.
He noted that the training is to help the community members understand the need for solidarity as a community and also move them to take legitimate actions in solidarity against pollution destroying their farmland, water which has taken away their livelihood, destroyed their culture and local economy.
Oduware charged the community not to give into the divide and rule tactics of the companies as betrayals to a cause by individuals in the community or division often keep the people in denials of their rights.
The Project Lead added ” We want the community members to see what it means to have solidarity. How do we build solidarity within the community? How do we bring them to a point where they unite for a particular cause and demand what is actually due them. We are bringing context into it.
“We want to bring them to a point where they understand what solidarity is and how they can stand in solidarity for a particular cause that will bring about justice and well being for them. You cannot fight for community people in their absence. It has to be participatory.”
Oduware said that since oil companies that have polluted their environment thrive on blackmail, disunity among the community members and fear, training the communities on solidarity will fortify them with the strategy on how to triumph in their struggles.
He noted that beyond the communities, for change to be experienced, HOMEF will continue to engage the companies and the regulators through advocacy.
The Program Lead added ” At HOMEF, we do a lot of advocacy. We take Policy Briefs to those in authority. These changes will not happen overnight. It will take a lot of resistance. That is the reason we are building the momentum from below for the people to brace up and be able to demand what is due them.
“It is an issue of human rights; right to life, right to healthy environment, right to decent environment. The communities are simply not asking for something from the moon.”
Also in his presentation, the Coordinator of Peace Point Development Foundation, Umo Isua-ikoh charged the communities to take seriously the issues of gender and social inclusion when pushing for a cause.
While noting that gender inclusion is a common challenge within the communities, Isua-ikoh said the hazards of fossil fuel extraction can better be resisted if women, youths and other marginalized segments of the society are carried along.
Earlier, community members in their respective remarks had decried how the oil companies in their domain have mastered the art of divide and rule tactics and intimidation through security personnel to continue putting them in the bondage of environmental pollution anytime they take moves to resist ills against the community.
On his part, the Village President of Okoroutip, Chief Thomas Atanwa had thanked HOMEF for the several training offered to the community.
He noted that through the intervention by HOMEF, the communities in Ibeno have been more equipped to be strategic in their engagement with the oil companies and government towards protecting their environment and lives against the hazards of fossil fuels extraction.
He assured that with fresh insights on solidarity, the communities will now be more united to push for the actualisation of their rights.