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

There were no available
data for planning
purposes, such as the
crude oil production
quota by state.
OMPADEC had no
means to cope with the
volume of demands
given decades of
physical neglect and
deprivation.
And funding was
inadequate.
difficult, building so expensive and
education so scanty in a country which is
unlikely ever to be developed.” Perhaps
more importantly, the Commission
concluded that “a feeling of neglect and a
lack of understanding was widespread...a
case has been made out for special
treatment of this area. This is a matter that
requires special effort because (the area) is
poor, backward and neglected.” That
conclusion is as true in the Niger Delta
today as it was in 1957. Be that as it may,
the immediate post-independence
Government eventually responded to the
Willink’s Report by setting up the Niger
Delta Development Board (NDDB) in
1961.
The NDDB could not solve the problems
of the Niger Delta enunciated in the
Willink’s Report. Subsequent bodies
included the Niger Delta Basin
Development Authority (NDBDA) set up
in 1976, and the Oil Mineral Producing
Areas Development Commission
(OMPADEC) set up in 1992. But they also
failed woefully. In the case of the NDBDA,
organizational problems bedevilled it from
inception. None of the board members
appointed by the Federal Government to
run the Authority came from the Niger
Delta. During the civilian administration of
Shehu Shagari, 11 river basin development
authorities were created; several now have
jurisdiction in the delta, including the Niger
River Basin Development Authority, the
Anambra-Imo River Basin Development
Authority, the Benin-Owena River Basin
Development Authority, the Niger Delta
Basin Development Authority and the
Cross River Basin Development Authority.
But these authorities also have had very
little impact. For one thing, their boards
often comprise politicians who have
regarded their tenures as opportunities to
reap the ’dividends of democracy’. They
have often been viewed as drains on the
nation’s finances.
OMPADEC was established in July 1992
and given the statutory responsibility to
receive and administer, in accordance with
the confirmed ratio of oil production in
each state, the monthly allocation of the
Federation Account. This is set aside for
the rehabilitation and development of the
mineral producing areas and for tackling
ecological problems that have arisen from
the exploration of oil minerals. Between
1993 and 1997, OMPADEC collected
about N17.42 billion, a little over US $135
million. At first, OMPADEC was allocated
three per cent of the Federation Account,
but this was raised to 6 per cent in 1995.
The Commission did not make any
meaningful impact on the lives and
environment of the Niger Delta people. It
was noted for its profligacy and
extravagance. Contracts were awarded in
anticipation of funds, with the result that
contracts worth billions of naira were
awarded that were not eventually backed
with cash. At the time it folded, the
Commission owed its contractors billions
of naira and left the Niger Delta with
numerous abandoned projects.
The Chief Executive of OMPADEC had
identified three pressing problems at the
Commission. There were no available data
for planning purposes, such as the crude
oil production quota by state. The
Commission had no means to cope with
the volume of demands given decades of
physical neglect and deprivation. And
funding was inadequate. While the decree
establishing OMPADEC stipulated that it
should receive three per cent of the
Federation Account, the Commission
claimed that what it actually got was three
per cent of net revenues from the
Federation Account.
When the present federal administration
came into power in 1999, it constituted a
new body, the Niger Delta Development
Commission (NDDC) to take over from
OMPADEC. At the inauguration of its
pioneer board, in December 2000, the
President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria noted that the NDDC has the
potential to offer a lasting solution to the
socio-economic difficulties of the Niger
Delta, which successive governments have
grappled with even before independence.
To achieve its mandate, the NDDC board
identified areas of focus including:
• development of social and
physical infrastructures
• technology
• economic/environmental
remediation and stability
• human development
• pursuit of a peaceful environment
12 NIGER DELTA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT