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

ut also presents a challenge to
international diplomacy and foreign direct
investment.
But the disruption also has adverse effects
on the local people, as ensuing violence
threatens individuals and communities.
Lives are lost, and investments drop along
with the availability of jobs. The response
to violence has at times meant further violence
is unleashed randomly on unsuspecting
communities or oil workers. Whole villages
have been destroyed and their populace
displaced because of disputes that
could have been amicably resolved. The
human development implications extend
to the harm done to the life chances of
children unable to go to school and the
further constraints on human and social
capital.
There is a general concern that some
people, particularly unscrupulous
politicians and political organizations,
benefit from violence, and that they
sponsor some of the youth gangs in the
region. Arms merchants along with police
and military personnel have supplied
weapons to various gangs, and the
increased incidence of oil theft has been
linked to the need for foreign exchange to
purchase arms.
While turmoil in the delta has many sources
and motivations, the preeminent underlying
cause is the historical failure of governance
at all levels. Declining economic
performance leading to rising
unemployment or underemployment; the
lack of access to basic necessities of life
like water, shelter, food and clothing;
discriminatory policies that deny access to
positions of authority and prevent people
from participating in shaping the rules that
govern their lives—these all indicate that
governance over time has fallen short.
Corruption aggravates feelings of being
cheated, especially when the rulers live like
kings amid extreme want. In spite of the
substantial flow of oil money to state and
local governments, many communities see
no sign of government presence in terms
of development projects. This intensifies
a sense of hopelessness and mistrust that
for the most aggrieved people leads to a
call to arms.
Among the delta’s many problems, some
of the most serious relate to environmental
sustainability, which is fundamental to
people’s well-being and development. Wideranging
and usually destructive
environmental changes have stemmed
from oil and gas extraction, industrialization
and urbanization. Oil spills and gas flares
in particular have destroyed natural
resources central to local livelihoods. The
alienation of people from their land and
resources has led to the inefficient use of
remaining resources and poor or inequitable
land-use practices.
Local people have ended up frustrated
both with the oil and multinational
companies doing business in the region, and
the government agencies that fail to
rigorously regulate them. For years, local
people have expected protection from
successive federal and state governments
that never arrived. Attempts to fight back
have compounded the environmental
challenges in some cases, such as when the
sabotage of oil pipelines results in more
oil pollution, in addition to the frequent
loss of lives and property.
Economically, the Niger Delta region is
heavily invested in the oil and gas industry,
but despite the fact that this is a nonrenewable
resource, economic
diversification has been limited. Local
people often cannot tap directly into oil
industry benefits, including employment,
because they lack skills or capital resources
or both. The once rich agricultural
enterprises developed in the mid-20 th
century, which generated substantial foreign
exchange earnings in the 1960s and 1970s,
have mostly been abandoned. For 85 per
cent of the population, informal
enterprises are the primary source of a
livelihood, but these are characterized by
low productivity and wages. Not
surprisingly, women, who face a double
marginalization due to gender, are
particularly active in this sector.
A majority of the people lacks information
and technical abilities, and unemployment
and underemployment rates are high. The
tension in the region has prompted some
local people, especially youths, to prefer
quick and profitable gains from conflict
over longer term—and frequently
In spite of the
substantial flow of oil
money to state and
local governments,
service delivery and
development projects
have been
disappointing,
especially at the local
government level.
Local people often
cannot tap directly
into oil industry
benefits, including
employment, because
they lack skills or
capital resources.
NIGER DELTA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 3