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The Niger Delta: Defusing The Time Bomb

Nigeria is the largest petroleum producer in Africa and the sixth largest producer of sweet crude oil among OPEC member countries. Nigeria is the most populated African country and its size, together with its oil and gas wealth, provides it with both political and economic clout. The advantages of location and the quality of Nigeria’s crudes usually yield price premia. Since Nigeria is at some distance from the Middle East, both geographically and politically, the wars and conflicts there which have caused oil supply interruptions in the past decades have had no impact on its production. Oil is central to the development of Nigeria and constitutes the backbone of the economy. In the early 1990’s petroleum production accounted for 25% of GDP, oil exports accounted for over 95% of its total export earnings, and about 75% of government revenue. Petroleum production in fact provides the only immediate hope for the development of the rest of the economy. And while the oil industry received much attention from successive Nigerian governments, and foreign oil companies received the necessary incentives to ensure their continued presence, the land from where the oil was (and still is) prospected and exploited and her people were neglected by successive governments (Khan, 1994:1) and so with reckless abandon. The Niger Delta region is Nigeria’s largest wetland, and the third largest wetland in the world. With a steadily growing population now put at over 40 million people as of 2006, it accounts for more than 23% of Nigeria’s total population of over 140 million (National Population Commission, 2006). The Niger Delta has one of the highest population densities in the world, with 265 people per square kilometre. The area, which measures over 2000 square miles, covering nine states in Nigeria’s federation, has the highest crude oil resources in the Gulf of Guinea countries. Oil was first discovered in commercial quantity in 1956 at Oloibiri now in Bayelsa State. But despite these huge resource potentials, it is said that 70% of the people of the Niger Delta region live below the poverty line, less than $1 a day with a clear absence of the basic amenities. Although well endowed with intelligent human resources as well, the region is also said to have the largest illiteracy and unemployment rates in Nigeria, and one of the largest in the world. A survey revealed that 73% of the households have five or more dependents without a job. Its educational system has been continually collapsing over the years; while the infrastructure vital for quality education is grossly lacking leading to high school dropout rates. The result of this is low skills and un-employability of the region’s people. Social life has also been generally low in the region, with lack of health facilities and social amenities. Many years of oil production in the Niger Delta has led to environmental degradation. Gas flaring has seriously affected its ecosystem with human and aquatic life seriously at risk. Under infrastructural challenges, the region has epileptic or non-existent utilities: there are no roads and potable water is absent. Environmental challenges include coastal erosion and rising sea level, which has led to large portions of the landmass being eroded. Oil and gas production has caused farming and fishing outputs to be on the decline, due to widespread pollution. Pollution of the ground water for instance portends danger both to the present and future generations. Acid rain resulting from gas flaring damages roofs and causes respiratory and other medical problems. There has been a poor impact assessment procedure; increased deforestation and biodiversity loss as well as losses in sewage and municipal solid wastes has occured in parts of the region. On the socio-political challenges, the Niger Delta has experienced weak governance; poor service delivery by successive governments at both state and local government levels; lack of transparency, which contributed to making a limited impact on the people’s welfare, despite substantial receipts from the federal government. There is also the exclusion of civil society groups, communities and ordinary citizens of the region in the government process. As a result the people have developed mistrust on government’s intentions thereby leading to rising impatience with agencies of development. The big issue is lack of cooperation and partnerships between the states of the region and the various agencies of development. For instance many major projects cannot be undertaken by any one state or Local Government Area (LGA) without collaboration among the stakeholders. This wastage through project duplications has depleted funds and made efforts at development inadequate over the years.