Focus on neglected Niger Delta region

After decades in which Nigeria’s oil belt suffered neglect and witnessed failed development interventions by governments, President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government is trying new development intiatives in the region. “The main departure point is that we want a master-plan to provide a framework for the things we want to do,” Onyema Ugochukwu, chairman of the newly created Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), told IRIN in an interview.“It is not only necessary to harmonise activities for other agencies involved, part of the process itself involves consultation with the people. They must be involved in conceptualisation, design and implementation.” But the task ahead is difficult. The 70,000-sq km Niger Delta is one of the three largest wetland areas in the world, with a unique but fragile ecosystem. It produces more than 90 percent of the crude oil that is the lifeblood of the Nigerian economy. However, more than four decades of oil exploration and production by international oil companies in the area left massive environmental degradation. As a result the farming and fishing communities of the region watched their yield decline dramatically over the years. While Nigeria earned about US $320 billion from crude oil exports between 1970 and 2000, according to World Bank estimates, the Niger Delta, with over seven million inhabitants, received no real benefits in terms of basic social amenities, infrastructure and general welfare. Three different bodies had been set up in the past by preceding governments to channel development projects to the region, but funds assigned for the purpose either disappeared through outright embezzlement or were dispensed as political patronage to the local elite. In the past decade, neglect suffered by the region also fuelled restive feelings among impoverished locals. Violence swirled through the region as angry youths disrupted oil operations, kidnapped expatriate employees of oil multinationals for ransom or fought each other for the few benefits that came from oil companies. On the eve of Obasanjo’s election in 1999, violence in the region had spiralled out of control and become a threat to Nigeria’s oil production, often cutting exports by as much as a third. Ugochukwu, an economist who worked for more than three decades as a journalist, hopes to bring his experiences to bear in winning the confidence of the Niger Delta people and articulating an effective development programme. Already significant efforts are being channelled by the NDDC towards improving relations with the local communities that are either sceptical or plainly hostile. Appraisal trips have also been conducted throughout the region to determine the scope of the problems that need to be addressed. “There is a lot of neglect, deprivation, poverty and unemployment,” Ugochukwu said. “It’s sad to see a community surrounded by water but without water to drink. When a top World Bank official, Horst Koehler came here, we went to a community and when they fetched up their water from the well, we were embarrassed to find spirogyra in it.” Part of NDDC’s initiative to create a broad consensus among diverse interest groups in the region was a three-day international conference organized with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in Nigeria’s oil industry capital, Port Harcourt. The aims of the 10-12 December conference included creating a strategic partnership with local communities, the private sector, civil society groups and development agencies, while accounting and disbursement mechanisms acceptable to donors and engendering transparency also expected to evolve from this process. In the end the results will hopefully feed into the development of a master-plan for transformation of the region, Ugochukwu said. Already 16 sectors, covering infrastructure, health and social services and human capacity development, have been identified for specific, long-term planning. Consultants have been engaged to work in each area and a German development agency, GTZ, has been appointed to articulate the separate plans into a comprehensive whole. According to the NDDC chairman, the UNDP has been instrumental to getting the commission started on its tasks. “They have been very supportive technically and financially,” he said. Both bodies are now planning long-term collaboration, and the UNDP will liase closely with the NDDC in the execution of its development projects in the Niger Delta - especially micro-credit schemes targeted at rural communities. NDDC is intent on making a positive impact on lives in the area as quickly as possible, Ugochukwu said. “We inherited about 1,300 projects that were uncompleted in previous government interventions,” he explained. These projects are now being completed and new ones are being designed. Contracts have been awarded for 560 new projects aimed at providing basic social amenities, mainly schools, roads and health centres. “Our emphasis is on human capacity building. That is why we are building more schools,” Ugochukwu said. “The other difference is that we will complete the projects we have started.”