By Obiabin Onukwugha
Recently, host communities and civil society organisations across Africa carried out a one-week campaign against oil multinational, TotalEnergies, tagged “Kick Total Out of Africa”
The Pan-African one week program which took place between August 18 to 24, 2025, was a continent-wide campaign of protests and activism, organized by the KickTotalOutOfAfrica umbrella body.
Led by affected communities and supported by civil society groups, the “Africa Week of Action” demanded that French oil giant, TotalEnergies cease its operations, pay reparations for environmental and social harms, and support a just energy transition.
The campaign highlighted issues like forced displacement, environmental degradation, and health crises linked to TotalEnergies’ projects, particularly the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), and featured events such as protests, town halls, and a People’s Tribunal.
In Nigeria, the people of Ogbogu community, in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local Government Area of Rivers State, where a Town Hall meeting was held as part of the campaign, lamented the impact of years of gas flaring and oil extraction on their farmlands and livelihoods by TotalEnergies.
Ogbogwu which hosts OML58, is a major oil and gas producing area in the Niger Delta, with numerous oil and gas wells and flare stations.
The community, united in their voices, called for remediatiion and exit of TotalEnergies in their community over what they described as a “continuous pattern of corporate neglect spanning decades.”
At the townhall meeting which was organized by the Community Development Advocacy Foundation (CODAF), the community vowed to escalate their campaign through legal action, sustained protests, and appeals to global allies.
The meeting had community members, community leaders, women, youths and other stakeholders in attendance. They accused TotalEnergies of employing divide-and-rule tactics, unfulfilled promises of development, and consistently failing to properly compensate for damages over the decades of their operations.
A member of the community, Mr. Ajie Wisdom stated that they are insisting that Total leaves Nigeria, as their operations have done more harm than good in the community. He pointed out that Total gas flaring operations have negative impacted on the health of residents in the community.
He called for a comprehensive environmental remediation, to heal their poisoned land and waterways, reparations for years of lost livelihoods and health impacts, and stronger government oversight to prevent such corporate abuses in the future.
“TotalEnergies must immediately cease operations and leave not just Ogbogu but Nigeria entirely. The era of unchecked corporate destruction in Nigeria is over, and the fight for environmental justice has only just begun,” Wisdom said.
Mr. Endurance Oriakhogba, Project Officer, CODAF, stated that the event served as a powerful platform for the oil-impacted community to voice years of pent-up grievances against TotalEnergies’ operations under the OML 58 cluster.
He said the gathering is part of a broader continental movement, with similar actions taking place simultaneously in nine other African nations including Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa. He also revealed that the coordinated Africa Week of Action, spearheaded by 350Africa, represents a growing wave of resistance against fossil fuel corporations across the Africa
The CODAF project officer announced plans to channel the community’s testimonies into formal petitions at the Africa tribunal which will hold in South Africa on the 24th of August 2025.
“We will take Ogbogu’s cry for justice to every relevant forum until TotalEnergies is held accountable and our environment restored.”
“The meeting served as both a sobering documentation of corporate abuse and an inspiring display of community resilience. With the eyes of a continent-wide movement now on Ogbogu, this small Niger Delta community has positioned itself at the forefront of Africa’s growing fight against environmental injustice in the fossil fuel industry.
“For decades, TotalEnergies has operated across Africa, extracting resources, displacing communities, and polluting the environment under the banner of “development.” In reality, their operations have left a legacy of oil spills, toxic gas flaring, forced displacement, and broken promises, enriching foreign corporations while deepening poverty and environmental harm.
“The Kick Total Out of Africa campaign is a continent-wide call to end this exploitation and demand justice, reparations, and a just energy transition led by communities,” Oriakhogba stated.
