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UN-backed conference opens on volatile oil region

A three-day conference discussing development initiatives for Nigeria’s impoverished but volatile Niger Delta oil region began on Monday, in the southeastern city of Port Harcourt. Organised by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the conference is expected to build a consensus on strategies that would bring rapid and sustainable development in the region, which had for decades been neglected by successive Nigerian governments. President Olusegun Obasanjo, who opened the conference, described it as “the first in a series of planned activities and consultations intended to fashion out a coherent vision and plan of action” for the development of the area. The 70,000 sq km Niger Delta, where the River Niger breaks into a maze of rivers and creeks as it empties into the Atlantic Ocean, produces more than 90 percent of Nigeria's crude oil - the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy. But despite the huge wealth produced in the area, the inhabitants have received little benefit. Instead, the mainly farming and fishing communities have also had to contend with pollution, environmental degradation and deaths. In the past decade, the region has also suffered communal unrest with restive youths often disrupting the operations of oil multinationals with demands for more access to the region’s wealth, or engaging in bloody communal feuds as they compete for few benefits that trickle down. Following his election in 1999, Obasanjo responded to the Niger Delta situation by setting up the NDDC to coordinate development efforts in the area. He also sought the assistance of UNDP to design a development plan for the region. Abdullai Jammeh, assistant secretary-general of UNDP regional bureau, pointed out that choices made in the past for the region failed. Consequently, a paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty was created, he said. "Concrete evidence of service delivery is needed to compensate for the years of non-delivery of development," he said.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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