Members of the Egi community in Rivers state’s Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area are taking on multinational oil firms for ecological and health justice after at least 60 years of operation in their area. The call came during a town hall meeting hosted by We the People as part of its ongoing Community Dialogue series, which aims to chronicle the ecological, health, and social impacts of oil and gas extraction in the Niger Delta and support communities in demanding justice. Members of the community described their trauma, which included TotalEnergies taking huge areas of their farmland, gas flaring, several gas explosions, the incitement of conflict, and poverty caused by the loss of their traditional livelihoods.

Che Ibegwura, a veteran environmental rights activist in his nineties, elucidated the dynamics of exploitation, division, and conflict that the oil companies had employed in the Egi community. Other participants explained that oil extraction had not only negatively impacted their wellbeing but had also significantly decreased their life expectancy. Community members shared a variety of illnesses they frequently encounter due to oil and gas extraction, including a significant increase in blindness, respiratory issues, cancer, and more. The community urged the Nigerian government and its regulatory agencies to take swift action to hold the companies responsible for the damages they have inflicted.

Other participants discussed the increasing frequency of floods caused by climate change, which have become common since 2012. The community experiences further consequences from floods that devastate their homes and agricultural lands.