• Ogoni women threaten nude protest over oil extraction plans
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has approved the release of the Rivers State University (RSU) Campus in Kira, Tai Local Council, to the Federal Government for the commencement of the newly established Federal University of Environment and Technology (FUET).
The institution was formally established after President Bola Tinubu signed the bill into law on February 3, 2025. During an inspection of the Kira campus yesterday, Fubara, accompanied by RSU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Nlerum Okogbule, revealed that the National Security Adviser had requested the state government to provide the facility to facilitate FUET’s take-off.
Fubara said the recently approved Federal University of Environment and Technology in Ogoniland by Tinubu will begin operations in the Kira Campus of RSU. The governor said the existing structures, recently renovated by the RSU authority, and the vast land available will sufficiently serve to accommodate and ease the process of take-off of actual learning activities at the FUET.
The governor was conducted around the campus by the VC, Okogbule, Tai Council Chairman, Matthew Dike, and former VC of RSU, Prof. Barineme Fakae. Fubara, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Nelson Chukwudi, explained that his visit to the campus was necessitated by the request from the Office of National Security Adviser to his Office to consider and approve the campus for the take-off of the new federal university.
IN another development, a coalition of women groups from the Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State has issued a stern warning to the Federal Government, threatening to stage a nude protest on the streets of Ogoni if plans to resume oil extraction in the area are carried out.
The women vowed to take drastic action to express their discontent and protect their land and environment. The women, under the umbrella of the Ogoni Women Coalition for Sustainable Environment, made this known in a statement jointly signed by 15 women groups, including the MBA Okase Initiative, Eedee Ladies of Tai, and the League of Queens International.
Others are KEBETKACHE Women Development and Resource Centre, Global Concern Women and Youth Development Initiative, Miikeekor Environmental Development Initiative, Concern Ogoni Daughter, Peoples Advancement Centre, Ogoni Women Coalition for Sustainable Environment, Yerebaneko Women Group Tai and Ogoni Women Development Initiative.
According to the women, the Ogoni area is not ripe and ready for oil exploration, maintaining that they will not allow the resumption of oil activities until their demands are met. Speaking to journalists, Dr. Patience Osaroejiji, a representative of the women’s coalition, stated that the women of Ogoni are prepared to go nude in protest to get the world’s attention.
