Women from 14 communities in Rivers and Bayelsa states staged coordinated protests outside the offices of three international oil companies this week, demanding to be formally included in Community Development Agreement (CDA) negotiations that they say have consistently excluded women from decisions that directly affect their households, livelihoods, and environment.
CDAs are legal agreements between oil companies and host communities that govern compensation payments, employment quotas, social investment commitments, and environmental obligations. Critics have long noted that these agreements are typically negotiated by male-dominated community leadership structures, leaving women -- who are disproportionately affected by oil pollution and who manage most household food production -- largely voiceless in the process.
Protest leader Mrs. Biodun Serekara said: We are the ones who see our children sick from polluted water. We are the ones whose fish ponds are destroyed by spills. But when the company comes to discuss compensation, they sit only with the men. Our voices do not count. We are saying that ends today.
One of the targeted companies, Shell Petroleum Development Company, said in a statement that it was committed to gender inclusion in community engagement and would review its CDA processes. The other two companies had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
The protests have been supported by the Global Fund for Women and the Women Environmental Programme (WEP), which have been providing legal training to Niger Delta women on their rights under both Nigerian law and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
