Abuja — SOME women in the volatile southeast Nigeria have rejected plans by the government to resume oil production in the region.

The plans to resume oil extraction come as communities still battle environmental degradation and killing of activists by the then military regime over 20 years ago.

Federation of Ogoni Women's Association (FOWA) is resisting ongoing efforts to restart oil production in the area that is in the Niger delta.

"Ogoni women completely reject the planned return of state repression, killings and rape of Ogoni women under the cover of oil resumption in Ogoni," said Namon Nwinde, FOWA spokeswoman.

She said Ogoni women had always been victims each time the government used the military in an attempt to force oil production in the region.

"This must stop. Ogoni women can no longer tolerate the continual repression that is looking endless and coming from our own government."

Speaking in the town of Bori, Nwinde said women drawn from the six kingdoms of Ogoniland would be mobilised to resist forceful oil resumption without the consent of the local people.

The Ogoni people, who number about over 2 million people, live in a 404-square-mile (1,050 km2) homeland.

They rose to international attention after massive public protests campaign against Shell Oil, the British-Dutch oil firm.

Some activists, most prominently Ken Saro-Wiwa, were executed by the military regime of Sani Abacha in 1995 for their activism against oil extraction in the region.