A typical residence of an Ibeno woman with a beach behind. Photo shot by Enwono-Abasi, The Crest Newspaper.
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More than thirty (30) women from Okoro-utib, Iwuo-okpom, Okpolum communities of Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State who are in search of a better way to dry their seafoods while protecting their environment are grappling with a lot of other challenges.
“These women will be so helpless with their charred skin if they don’t stand up to help themselves,” an Environmentalist said.
In a laid back fishing settlement of Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, are women uniting for the purpose of searching for mud not just to reduce the effect of direct excessive heat on their skin, but, to protect their environment from further degradation through logging.
The mainstay and preoccupation of women in fishing settlements of Okoro Utip, Opulum, Iwuo-Opulum communities in Ibeno Local Government Area is fishing and fish-drying. They engage in so much lumbering to get needed fire wood for their fish drying occupation.
These women look for ways to escape from the impending doom of environmental degradation worsened by climate change. Their encounter with an advocacy outing in 2022 organised by Peace Point Development Foundation (PPDF) caused these women to put on their thinking-cap and explore new ways to improve their trade, and at the same time, save their skin and the environment.
Since the introduction of ‘Fuel Wood Efficient Cook Stove’ by PPDF in its advocacy programme to spread the environmental knowledge as it concerns Climate Change and Climate Justice to rural Communities across the State, including; Opukalama Community in Ikot Abasi LGA, Okoroutib in Ibeno LGA and other communities in Cross River State, Nigeria, which highlighted conservative means of cooking to reduce deforestation, Ibeno women have evolved innovatively on ways to dry their seafoods.
After the new method of cooking was introduced to these communities, women have embraced the change which has helped reduce carbon emission (pollution) in their environment by using these ‘mud-stoves.’
‘Fuel Wood Efficient Cook Stove’ (mud-stove) works by filling a metal container with mud then making a hole in the middle that connects with a small opening by the side of the metal container to stoke twigs that produce fire to aid cook food. On top of the metal container is a tripod either built in, or constructed separately and placed on the metal container.
With this knowledge, Ibeno women recreated ‘Iso-kang’ interpreted as ‘Fire-Front’. This recent innovation by the women of Ibeno to reduce the usage of firewood in their fish-drying business has helped reduced carbon emission into the environment and curb logging.
Using different sizes of drums, these women resort to mud which they mold the into circular shapes of different sizes with opening in the middle where few sticks of firewood would be stoked in to dry large quantity of fish for a longer period of time.
They travel long distances to where they can mine good quantity mud to build their fireplaces. A lot of these women builders are seen amongst Okoro-utib women. Some who can not travel long distances in search of the mud have to buy it in bags from fishermen who portion it in cement bags and sell at N1500.00 (One Thousand Five Hundred Naira) or more depending on the size.
‘Iso-Ikang’, therefore is the mud built drying kiln with an open top. The fish are arranged on an iron-net and placed on top for exposure to heat to get dried.
According to the women, this is more efficient than the open fire place where much firewood was required in each drying exercise.
Speaking with one of the women who is a mud fire place builder and a woman-leader in Iwuo-okpom, Madam Ani Isaiah, said “before the mud-stove was introduced to us, I used to dry my fish on ordinary ground using firewood and tripod stand with iron-net on top. The heat used to affect my skin so much and I suffer so much before I can dry large quantity of fish for sale in the market. So, when the mud stove was introduced to us, I used that knowledge and asked a welder to cut a drum for me which I constructed with a mud. This has reduced the effect of fire on my skin and it saves firewood. It is good but not too good as we still need a bigger oven constructed from the mud or a solar oven. The one we don’t need firewood at all.
Another builder, Madam Helen Jonathan says she uses zinc roofing sheets to construct the body of the fire-place. She said with the zinc and charcoal, she has a good front for her seafoods and reduces her use of firewood.
Madam Kate Ekerette Imoh who is also a builder said she looks forward to a more improved drying method as the mud system still uses firewood which causes a lot of carbon emission which they inhale and is injurious to their health. “I will like to appeal to the State Government to come to our aid because this mud system we are using though it has helped us better than before, but it is not totally good. It still affects our skin because of the heat conducted in the process and it produces so much smoke which affects our health. We inhale a lot of smoke while drying our fish to take to the market.”
This innovation keeps evolving by the day as the women use ordinary mud, drum and zinc to help make bigger and safer fire-fronts for drying large quantity of fish in a bid to reduce smoke emission as well as heat which causes a lot of health hazards for these women.
Challenges
Ibeno is a water-logged environment occasioned with the operation of multinational oil companies in the area which worsen the environmental conditions through gas flaring, water pollution, flooding, destruction of economic crops and marine life.
Aside from the gradual extinction of economics crops and aquatic animals, Ibeno women lament of flooding caused by the sea overflowing its banks.
“We suffer to dry our fishes during the rainy season because water from the sea rises and enter our houses. Most times it destroys our kitchen and fire places where we set up to dry our fishes. You can see most of our fire places are on platforms but yet still, the water still enter and disturbs us,” Madam Mary IkoAbasi.
Another woman, Madam Akpanika said every season comes with its peculiar challenges. In the dry season, these women complained that they faced a lot of infernos as a result of their fish drying business.
“Fire guts our houses in the night. This happens when we are sleep and the fire from the fire place will spread while drying the fishes and engulf the house. But we thank God for this mud way of drying fishes with few firewood which has reduced incidents of fire burning down our houses,” Madam Akpanika said.
In another view, Mrs Elizabeth Ifim said there is no good pharmacy not to talk of hospital in the community to help with their health needs. “We suffer a lot of internal heat and from our skins, you will know the effect the fire has on us. No good hospital to go or any medical person to advise us on what to do with this.”
Actions against illegal logging seems ineffective in Nigeria as there is no strict Federal Legislation prohibiting logging aside departments of State Ministries of Environment which try to supervise this sector compared to Australia, United States of America and EU with strict legislation prohibiting logging.
Speaking with an Environmentalist, Mrs Ini Umo, Head of Climate Change Department, Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Environment said there have been few interventions from the State Government but was impressed by the step Ibeno women have taken towards tackling climate change.
“What we started doing in 2022 with NGOs that helped us to sensitise these women on green energy was to introduce alternative source of energy to the women for cooking. The Federal Government, that is, the Department of Climate Change, supported States with 7kg Gas Cylinders, Clean Cooked stoves that you could use charcoal. Though the use of charcoal was not really effective as it still involves cutting down of trees and the gas cylinders were soon dropped because of the cost of filling the cylinders. We thought that was a breakthrough for the women as we took it to the grassroot by going to churches for proper reach. We cut across the three senatorial districts,” Mrs. Ini Umoh said.
She expressed the hope that with the move of Ibeno women, a lot would be achieved in tackling climate change.
