OWA: Pressure increases for Niger Delta peace

Feb. 11, 2008
The $4 billion Nigeria allocated to the Niger Delta for its development over the last 4-5 years has been swallowed up by increased governmental staff wages, security, and corruption, a senior official has said.

The $4 billion Nigeria allocated to the Niger Delta for its development over the last 4-5 years has been swallowed up by increased governmental staff wages, security, and corruption, a senior official has said.

Speaking at the Offshore West Africa conference, Delta State Deputy Governor E. Utuama said staff numbers in government posts have risen because there weren’t any jobs in the private sector. “Everyone is looking for a job.”

But Nigeria should form an Inspector General’s office to monitor sustainable development projects in the Niger Delta and help quell the unrest that is blocking oil and gas production, suggested a Niger Delta community relations advisor at the conference session looking at sustainable development in the Niger Delta.

Stephen Benstowe, who has provided advice to the Bonny Island community that hosts the Nigeria LNG plant, said timely release of funds for development in the Niger Delta was critical. The problems in the region can be blamed upon government inaction and the insincerity of oil companies with their sustainable development policies. Operators are failing to integrate with and engage the communities.

“Who is responsible for sustainable development in Nigeria? It has earned $20 billion/year over the last 4 years from oil, and there are 20 million inhabitants in the Niger Delta who live in abject poverty and are grossly neglected,” Benstowe charged.

The government has formulated a Niger Delta master plan to reduce poverty, diversify the economy, improve health, and develop new transport, communications, and waste management facilities. So far, militants and residents from the region have complained bitterly about its poor implementation.

Community Development Foundations, where communities and oil companies work together to address community needs, have had some success, said Anthony Bolarin, general manager of sustainable development at Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd. But he cautioned against creating projects doomed to failure: “There have been lots of national development plans proposed before, and if we’re not careful there will be another one. Things have started to be built, but haven’t [been] finished, or those that have finished have been grassed up.”

He said global memorandums of understanding have been a failure in spearheading development in the Niger Delta. “We need to let the community come back to the center and ask them what they want; we must stop dictating to them.”