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

Map 2.8: Map of the Niger Delta Region Showing the Spatial Correspondence Between Oil Facilities and Educational Index
The medium HPI-1
score for six of the
eight local government
areas in Bayelsa
State shows that
benefits derived from
oil have not transformed
people’s lives.
Yenagoa and Brass,
the state’s most
developed areas, have
high incidences of
poverty.
The HPI-1 for Local Government
Areas
The best performing local government area
on the HPI-1 is Oshimili North in Delta
State at 15.794 per cent, while the worst
performing is Odigbo in Ondo State at
33.722 per cent. Considering that the national
HPI-1 is 38.8 per cent, this would
mean that even the worst performing locality
in the Niger Delta has surpassed the
national average. But the best score is still
worse than the 11.4 per cent score for
Mauritius, the top country on the HPI-1
in sub-Saharan Africa.
HPI-1 performances vary widely across
the region. Delta State has the lowest level
of disparity, while Edo State has the widest
variation. Against the regional average of
32.065 per cent, five states (Delta, Rivers,
Bayelsa, Imo and Ondo) rank better, while
four states (Cross River, Abia, Akwa Ibom
and Edo) rank worse (table 2.14).
There are relatively few localities that
perform well on the HPI-1 in both the
dry and swamp land areas (map 2.9). Most
of the better-off areas are in Edo and
Delta states (table 2.15). In the swamp land
zone, it is difficult to locate any locality
with a low level of poverty. Across the
Niger Delta region, only 31 local
government areas, or 20 per cent of the
total, have low poverty levels. Those with
low HPI-1 scores also have high or
medium scores on the HDI, which is as it
should be. Some rated high on the HDI,
such as Burutu, Warri North and Warri
South-West, only have medium HPI-1
scores, which further buttresses the fact
that poverty levels can be high even in the
midst of oil wealth.
66 NIGER DELTA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT