Oil-sacrificed zones, especially in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, bear deep scars of poisoned waters, devastated farmlands, and broken livelihoods. A once-thriving community has been ravaged by pollution, stripped of its resources, and left to cope with the aftermath of decades of crude oil extraction. The people’s call is clear: Remediation, Reparation and Restoration.
It was against this backdrop that Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) convened its second edition of the School of Ecology on Recovering Oil-Sacrificed Zones. The session was held on the 5th and 6th of August 2025 to arm communities with the requisite knowledge to slow down and ultimately stop the destructive activities of fossil extraction and provoke policy advocacy to engender a healthy environment, promote just renewable energy alternatives and birth the transition that is decentralised and hinged on justice, equity, and inclusiveness.
The school session was focused on investigating the origins of the sacrificed zones, which were born from extractivism and colonialism. Different instigators led participants to examine various themes pertaining sacrificed zones and their relationship with colonialism and extractivism, and such topics were: commodification of Nature (land and sea grabs, and all colours of carbon), Global Economic Model flaws a precursor of climate change, Oil in our blood (women on the fence lines), communities mined, dispossessed and abandoned, and scourge of a Neolonialism state.
Discussions on the spread of extractivism and dependency, as well as deep dives into topics such as halting the blight on African Deltas, the legal pathway to restorative Justice, Ecological monitoring, and Brakes on sacrifice and transformation acceleration in Nigeria as outlined in the NDAC Manifesto, charged this session.
“The Niger Delta has been an impoverished region for decades. Thus, Recovering Oil Sacrifice Zones is about building power from below, community power rooted in knowledge, shared experience, and the courage to demand better. The task ahead is heavy but no one is coming to save us, but us.” This was the opening charge to the scholars.
One of the sessions, “Sacrificed and Discounted – The Scourge of a Neocolonial State”, iterated that as scholars and researchers, it is important to think, reflect, and act, as there is a difference between theory and intellect.
“We need to be organic intellectuals, organising, understanding, developing knowledge and articulating our experiences. We have the right to challenge ourselves when others falsely articulate our experiences for us. Organic intellectuals are not forged in the walls of a classroom, but through experiences.”
The session further explained that colonialism was an extractive process, and sacrificed zones and extractivism are mutually dependent. Our strategy should focus on transforming the nature of the neocolonial state, global capitalism, and complicit corporations.
The school also featured class activities where scholars worked in groups and mapped out the different oil sacrifice zones in the Niger Delta, stating the degradation point, affected communities, restoration ideas and ecological recovery potentials that these zones hold.
The school concluded with scholars committing to amplify their voices in the struggle to recover the oil-sacrificed zones in Niger Delta. This, they stated will be achieved through the use of social media, stakeholder involvement in advocacy, and the step-down sensitisation of knowledge and conscientization of community members to address these problems.
