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

Foreword
Over the past four decades, the issues confronting
the Niger Delta region have caused
increasing national and international concern.
The region produces immense oil
wealth and has become the engine of
Nigeria’s economy. But it also presents a
paradox, because these vast revenues have
barely touched the Niger Delta’s own pervasive
local poverty. Today, there are formidable
challenges to sustainable human
development in the region. The manifestations
of these challenges include the conflicts
over resources among communities,
and between communities and oil companies.
The delta’s human development dilemma
raises the question of why abundant human
and natural resources have had so little
impact on poverty. This conundrum serves
as the driving force for preparing this
human development report, the first for
the Niger Delta. The report is a component
of an integrated development programme
for the delta region. The programme’s
overall objective is to promote sustainable
poverty reduction by strengthening local
governance and participatory planning,
ensuring sustainable use of renewable
natural resources and constructing social
infrastructure. The report analyses the
various dimensions of the human
development challenges in the region, with
a particular focus on women and youth,
and proposes a people-centred
development agenda grounded in the
region’s natural, human and social capital.
The imperative for a new development
agenda arises from the fact that past development
planning efforts have failed to
adequately address the region’s needs. In
spite of the efforts of federal and state
governments, the Niger Delta Development
Commission (NDDC) and oil companies
to enhance the well-being of people
in the delta, wide disparities in development
outcomes persist. In many cases, the conditions
of rural communities where crude
oil is produced are deplorable, with severe
environmental degradation, and no access
to safe drinking water, electricity and roads.
Consequently, analyses of poverty and human
development paint a dismal picture,
particularly when the region is compared
with other oil-producing regions in the
world. In the Niger Delta, the results of
poor development have been disillusionment,
frustration among the people about
their increasing deprivation and deep-rooted
mistrust.
This report recommends a new development
paradigm to address these concerns.
In a seven-point development agenda, it
proposes using the region’s vast oil wealth
to create an environment that allows people
to flourish, live valued and dignified lives,
overcome poverty, enjoy a peaceful atmosphere
and sustain their environment. The
agenda is a people-centred and sustainable
framework requiring the involvement of
all stakeholders, including local, state and
federal governments, the NDDC, the oil
companies and the entire private sector,
civil society organizations, the people of
the region and development partners. The
highlights include the following:
Agenda One:
Promote peace as the foundation for development.
There cannot be any meaningful human
development without peace. A peace agenda
must include education, easier access to
justice and a more equitable distribution of
resources.
Agenda Two:
Make local governance effective and
responsive to the needs of the people.
Governance is very central to achieving
NIGER DELTA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT iii