Niger Delta Human Development Report - UNDP Nigeria - United ...

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took control of Nembe and banished them. Violent clashes by rival youth gangs imposed a reign of terror on Nembe until the community rose in 2000 to resist (Ojo 2002). The result was heavy loss of lives and property. What is evident from these examples of intra-community conflict is that they arise because of struggles over the sharing of benefits from oil. Quite often a community’s traditional ruler or council of elders, which negotiates with the companies, is at the centre of such conflicts. When some people perceive unfairness in the distribution of compensation, they organize to challenge the existing order and seek its overthrow. This is one of the major causes of the breakdown of traditional authority in most oil-producing areas. Traditional rulers have lost their legitimacy partly because of greed and partly because there is not enough money to satisfy everybody anyway. The consequences of the weakening of the traditional socio-political order are farreaching. Youths no longer respect not just their chiefs, but all authority structures. Having experienced the sudden wealth that can be obtained by taking matters into their own hands, they want to deal directly with oil companies themselves. Unfortunately, most lack entrepreneurial skills. They fritter away their ransom money, so they constantly have to engage in extortion to maintain themselves. Property rights also come into play in intracommunity conflicts. Individual and community rights to land are insecure. Litigation is common because every plot of land is valuable either for oil exploration, farmland or building houses. In managing all of these different issues, local government chairpersons, who are the closest government functionaries to the communities, command little or no respect, as chapter one describes. Evidence from the field survey revealed that their loss of legitimacy is the result of a number of factors. Local elections are not properly conducted, starting from the nomination through campaigning to actual voting. Candidates are either imposed by a NIGER DELTA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT godfather or the state governor. Election outcomes do not reflect voter choices, so people feel frustrated and alienated. In several communities in the Niger Delta, there is no political authority capable of making authoritative decisions. In such a situation, the use of force to effect even routine policy decisions has become a common practice rather than a last resort. This frequently draws the involvement of security agencies in local administration. Inter-community Inter-communal conflicts do not always result in violence. Some cases are settled in courts—Niger Delta communities are famous (or perhaps notorious) as patrons of the judicial system. The courts in such urban centres as Port Harcourt and Warri have a series of these cases. But in many instances, when communities are not satisfied with the outcome, violence results. These conflicts usually involve a wide spectrum of people in each community. Since only the physically strong can fight, however, male youths are often the most active participants. The role of the elders, both male and female, is usually advisory, particularly in terms of the need for moderation. As in the case of intra-communal conflicts, inter-communal conflicts are not new in the Niger Delta. But the incidences have increased phenomenally since the 1970s, and particularly since the 1990s (see box 5.2). Table 5.1 summarizes some noteworthy examples that led to widespread destruction of life and property. For instance, in the conflict between Okpoama and Ewoama, the latter community was completely destroyed. In the Liama and Beletiama case of the 1990s, the destruction of Beletiama was such that even by the middle of 2005, it was difficult to imagine that a town of several thousand people once existed there. The dispute between Oleh and Olomoro illustrates the kind of issues that can spark a conflagration. The Shell Petroleum Development Company oil flow station in the area straddles the communities’ land, with 80 per cent in Oleh and 20 per cent in Olomoro, but Olomoro and Uzere have The oil economy is stressing traditional communal relationships. Some conflicts are so brutal that they result in entire communities being razed to the ground. Most youths lack entrepreneurial skills and fritter away their ransom money, so they constantly have to engage in extortion to maintain themselves. Election campaigns are constrained by thuggery and official hostility towards candidates of opposition parties. The benefits of being able to immediately assert rights over disputed territory are attractive. Communities are impatient to seize whatever they can. 115
A whole community reduced to rubbles because of communal clashes Table 5.1: Noteworthy Inter-Communal Conflicts in the Most Conflict-Prone States Bayelsa State Delta State Rivers State Okpoama vs. Ewoama Oleh vs. Olomoro Emohua vs. Ogbakiri Twon-Brass vs. Okpoama Isama vs. Gbarigolo Okrika vs. Elesa-Eleme Liama vs. Beletiama Ogidigbe vs. Okerenkoko Bille vs. Ke Emadike vs. Epebu Odimodi vs. Ogulagha Ekunuga vs. Okolomade Egweama vs. Beletiama Olota vs. Oboro Soku vs. Kula Box 5.2: Oil and the Conflict between Emadike and Epebu …the now warring communities have not always been enemies. Those communities, including Okodi, had always been good neighbours in the past until seismic activities began in the area in the 1960s by the United Geophysical Company (UGC) and Western Geophysical of Western Atlas International Nigeria Limited. When oil was struck on the piece of land, known as Obama Asaraba, Epebu, Emadike and Opuma communities soon started laying separate claims to the land; from then on, relations among these communities became strained. Peace finally took flight when aggression among these neighbours went on the high side with the discovery of the Frigbene B and Frigbene A oil wells in Frigbene by NAOC, with each community claiming ownership of the land. No farm located near the area was safe any longer. This led to frequent claims and counter-claims over farmlands and the crops. Source: Niger Delta Alert, August-October, 1998. 116 NIGER DELTA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT
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SUMMARY NIGER DELTA HUMAN DEVELOPME
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Foreword Over the past four decades
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Acknowledgements The Niger Delta Hu
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OMPADEC Oil Mineral Producing Areas
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§ The HP1-1 for the Niger Delta Re
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Background Overview The Niger Delta
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ut also presents a challenge to int
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2 should be resolved. An oil trust
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5 6 Social cohesiveness could also
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CHAPTER ONE Introduction AMAZING PA
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aggregate, to how its peoples are f
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that allows tourism to thrive and s
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any mineral extracted in that regio
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put up similar resistance, but this
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and HIV&AIDS. The information sourc
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Box 1.7: Climate The Niger Delta ha
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94 per cent of these have populatio
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expectancy index of 0.78 for Saudi
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to pockets of the region, in the ab
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Housing pattern in a typical Niger
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Revamping the rural economy by opti
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NIGER DELTA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPOR
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CHAPTER TWO The Human Development S
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in terms of this access, the level
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the full burden of environmental de
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effective machinery to hold elected
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NIGER DELTA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPOR
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whether the overall level of povert
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available data suggest that females
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HIV&AIDS in chapter four, so it wil
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Gas Flare at Umuchem Table 2.8: Com
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The HDI for the Niger Delta Region
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Table 2.10: Trends in Human Develop
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GDP index of 0.570. Chart 2.4 provi
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gender equity improves human develo
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development in the Niger Delta regi
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HDI, particularly in Bayelsa and Ri
Page 76 and 77: Map 2.6: Map of the Niger Delta Reg
Page 78 and 79: Table 2.14: Disparities in the HPI-
Page 80 and 81: Saharan Africa, the Niger Republic,
Page 82 and 83: Map 2.12: Map of the Niger Delta Re
Page 84 and 85: CHAPTER THREE Environmental and Soc
Page 86 and 87: of human life and economic activiti
Page 88 and 89: Chart 3.1: Quantities and Causes of
Page 90 and 91: Agency's (1991) environmental stand
Page 92 and 93: others. These changes have in turn
Page 94 and 95: B. Income-producing trees Avocado B
Page 96 and 97: abandon their traditional occupatio
Page 98 and 99: Box 3.6: Resolving the Niger Delta
Page 100 and 101: There is very little or no treatmen
Page 102 and 103: The flooding problem of the Niger D
Page 104 and 105: CHAPTER FOUR HIV&AIDS A CHALLENGE T
Page 106 and 107: five per cent. Nearly half the delt
Page 108 and 109: Map 4.2: HIV Prevalence Rates Among
Page 110 and 111: Chart 4.6: HIV Prevalence Trends in
Page 112 and 113: Orubuloye et al. 1992; Oyeneye et a
Page 114 and 115: the associated risks of HIV infecti
Page 116 and 117: stems from biological, social, cult
Page 118 and 119: Chart 4.10: State Responses to HIV/
Page 120 and 121: One particular point of outreach in
Page 122 and 123: CHAPTER FIVE Conflict and Conflict
Page 124 and 125: The most common and vicious forms o
Page 128 and 129: One of the shools destroyed during
Page 130 and 131: Box 5.3: Ogoni Bill of Rights, 1990
Page 132 and 133: groups have produced charters, decl
Page 134 and 135: understanding with host communities
Page 136 and 137: The frequent conflicts and the asso
Page 138 and 139: People. It presented its Ogoni Bill
Page 140 and 141: CHAPTER SIX Sustainable Livelihoods
Page 142 and 143: Table 6.1: Unemployment and Underem
Page 144 and 145: activity. Professionalizing the qua
Page 146 and 147: participants, is hard and tedious a
Page 148 and 149: Box 6.3: Environmental Degradation
Page 150 and 151: een largely limited to urban or per
Page 152 and 153: Table 6.5: Selected Community Devel
Page 154 and 155: drawing other industries to their l
Page 156 and 157: appropriate investment promotion me
Page 158 and 159: CHAPTER SEVEN A Human Development A
Page 160 and 161: Table 7.1: People’s Vision of the
Page 162 and 163: cushions the state’s economy agai
Page 164 and 165: purposes, and the property rights o
Page 166 and 167: tertiary schools, and for different
Page 168 and 169: identification of the potentials fo
Page 170 and 171: Box 7.3: In Mexico, New Forms of Tr
Page 172 and 173: • There should be support for mor
Page 174 and 175: In both Rivers and Delta states, mo
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Niger Delta Youths Metal fabricator
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4 PROMOTING SOCIAL INCLUSION The ag
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air caused by gas flares, the degra
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6 • appropriate and timely compen
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uild institutions for sustainable h
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• Act as pressure groups in restr
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Chapter One References African Netw
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Effluent on Some Biota of the Lower
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Agents of Environmental Regeneratio
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Sexual Networking: Identifying Part
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APPENDIX ONE Appendices Table A1.1:
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Table A1.4: Type of Housing Constru
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Yakurr 0.442 0.372 0.399 0.404 23.2
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Mbo 0.408 0.295 0.258 0.320 24.075
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Orlu 0.567 0.349 0.320 0.412 25.527
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Obudu 19.35 25.50 22.00 22.57 Odukp
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Ondo West 34.00 22.50 32.50 30.49 O
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Oshimili North 7.50 16.00 19.40 15.
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Ogu/Bolo 11.80 23.50 28.23 23.13 Ok
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Ose 0.466 0.556 0.234 0.419 Owo 0.5
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Owerri Municipal 0.506 0.658 0.249
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Akure North 0.000 0.924 0.067 0.330
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Ngor/Okpala 0.000 0.927 0.062 0.330
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47) L. Adele Jinadu Centre for Adva
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Technical Note TECHNICAL NOTE ON HU
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1.4 Interpolation for Missing Data
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• A long and healthy life, as mea
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