The other side of civil society story: women, oil and the Niger Delta environmental struggle in Nigeria

Abstract

The study based on the outcome of a 2 year involvement with women organizations in the oil rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria avers that in spite of their apparent invisibility in the dominant Niger Delta discourse, women form the first line of social defence against socio-economic privation in the region. The women play active socio-economic roles in the hostile Niger Delta environment in engendering and sustaining group and individual development. In spite of the structural and cultural limitations imposed on women, their associational life seen in the formation of various socio-economic groups has been invaluable to development in the region. Thus apart from providing coping niches for individual women, these women pool together in groups and associations to tackle the every day challenge of living in the region. This fact makes women and their groups critical agencies of intervention and development devolution in the region that should be properly harnessed in addressing the complex Niger Delta situation in Nigeria.