OPERATION CLIMATE
CHANGE
An Interview with Annie Brisibe of FoE
Nigeria
Ann Doherty spoke with FoE Nigeria's
volunteer staff member Annie Brisibe in
Amsterdam in November. Annie was born on 12
December 1972 in the Niger Delta, and
studied agricultural economics at the
Rivers State University of Science and
Technology in Port Harcourt. In addition to
her work on climate issues with FoE
Nigeria, Annie is involved with the Niger
Delta Women for Justice movement and the
Niger Delta Wetland Centre. She is the
Secretary-General of the Ijaw Youth
Council.
Climate change is generally considered a
'northern' issue. How do you convince
people with more immediate problems that
they should be concerned about the gradual
warming of the earth?
We focus on creating awareness about
what a polluted environment can do to
people. We point out the activities of
transnational corporations - the gas flares
caused by the oil industry, the improper
waste management, the carbon dioxide and
sulphur emissions - and make the
connections between all of this and the
frequent environmental problems in the
Niger Delta.
This is done through what we call
'mobile meetings' that take place every two
weeks in each Ijaw community in the Delta.
We travel from place to place, and each
meeting brings together more than 100
people. We also put out publications and
hold workshops, in collaboration with the
Niger Delta's Chikoko movement, on specific
topics such as gas flares, oil spills and
so forth. I've also been involved in
organizing political awareness workshops
for women through the Niger Delta Women for
Justice movement.
What are the results of all of this
raised awareness?
Awareness about TNCs and their
activities is very high in the Delta
region. It's a very hot place right now,
and everyone is saying that things must
change. This is why people are closing down
flow stations as part of the Ijaw Youth
Council's
Operation Climate Change
campaign. Actions are coordinated so that
flow stations belonging to various oil
companies - Shell, Mobil, Chevron, Texaco,
Agip - are closed down simultaneously.
Operation Climate Change
started
with a big action in January of 1999, and
although it continued throughout the year
it has now slowed down due to the new
democratic political system. The older
people in the Delta want to cool it a bit;
they want to try to lobby the national
House of Assembly. We believe however that
nothing has changed and that we won't be
able to make an impact this way, so we plan
to continue with the actions.
What are you hoping to achieve with
Operation Climate Change?
Our main demands are self-determination,
control over our own resources, and the
right to self-governance within the
Nigerian state. We want the oil companies
present in Nigeria to stop production and
renegotiate their activities with a
roundtable that includes communities and
the government.
Operation Climate
Change
has had an enormous impact on
the companies, and they've suffered from
major losses in profits.
We are disappointed that in the global
campaign for the prevention of climate
change, nobody talks about Africa. The
emissions are not coming only from the
United States, and it is not just North
Americans and Europeans who want to protect
their regions. Africa also suffers from the
consequences of environmental pollution
from oil and gas burning.
Do you have any hope that now, four
years after the deaths of Ken Saro-Wiwa and
the Ogoni Nine, the situation in the Niger
Delta will improve?
Today, the government blames the
corporations for the environmental problems
in the Delta and the corporations blame the
government for not having strong enough
regulations. But they still have a
beautiful relationship based on oil and
profits. Oil is all that the Nigerian
government has. The oil companies use the
military to guard their flow stations, and
the government protects the corporations no
matter what. That's why there have been so
many deaths. So nothing has changed in that
respect.
Still, I'm very optimistic. We might not
get all we want. We might only half of what
we want, but the struggle has to
continue.
