Mobilizing Community Participation in Oil Policy Development

Traditional rulers, community representatives, youth and women leaders play important roles as spokespersons and advocates of environmental justice and sustainable development in the Niger Delta region generally, especially in oil producing communities. Helping them to understand how Nigeria‟s latest oil sector reform bill, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), responds to their environmental concerns and socio-economic priorities is a necessary step towards empowering communities and mobilizing the participation of local voices and actors in policy processes that bear direct impact on their wellbeing and livelihood. For this reason, Spaces for Change (S4C) and the PIB Advocacy Working Group (WG) embarked on an advocacy tour of the Niger Delta region, consulting extensively with local leaders and sensitizing communities across 5 major states in the Niger Delta: Edo, Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa and Cross River states. 

We are proud to present a synthesis report of the field missions to oil producing communities in the Niger-Delta undertaken by Spaces for Change and the PIB Advocacy Working Group (the advocacy team) during the period of February – July 2013.