…Also Wants FG To Sign On To Rights Of Indigenous Peoples – ILO 169
Mr. Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, Executive Director, African Indigenous Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development (AIFES) has called on the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) to embark on a comprehensive livelihood and economic rehabilitation of the Ogoni women.
Mr. Saro Pyagbara made the call while speaking on the occasion of the 2022 International Indigenous Peoples Day in Port Harcourt recently.
The immediate past president of the Movement for Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) who spoke on t he platform, and as convener of the Ogoni Democracy and Development Forum (ODDF) also called on the Nigerian government to sign on to the International Labour Organization 169 which recognizes the rights of Indigenous Peoples as recommended by the UPR of Nigeria; set up a committee to develop a national action plan on the implementation of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP); embark on the deliberate process of legal empowerment of women’s inheritance rights.
The Forum also enjoined all financial institutions to provide facility to indigenous women without stringent conditions as is presently the case and promote free education for indigenous women.
It also condemned the water resource bill and called on the people of Niger Delta to rise up against it because it has the potential to deny the people access to water. Centres for the learning and promotion of traditional knowledge transmission was also advocated.
