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A REVIEW OF NIGER DELTA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT

By

Otive Igbuzor, PhD

Title of Book: Niger Delta Human Development Report

Publisher: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Abuja, Nigeria.

Number of pages: 218 pages

Year of Publication: 2006

ISBN: None

E-mail: Otive.Igbuzor@actionaid.org or otiveigbuzor@yahoo.co.uk

A REVIEW PRESENTED AT A CONFERENCE ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE NIGER DELTA: FROM AGENDA TO ACTION HELD AT HOTEL PRESIDENTIAL, PORTHARCOURT, RIVERS SATE FROM 24-25 AUGUST, 2006.

1. INTRODUCTION

The problems of development especially of wetlands and deltas have attracted the attention of development theorists, practitioners, activists, politicians and international organisations. In Nigeria, the challenges of development of the Niger Delta dates back to the colonial times and efforts to deal with the problem also dates back to that period. However, in recent years, the urgency to deal with the challenges has become more critical with increasing crime wave in the region, hostage taking of oil workers and emergence of militias. It is within this context that the 2006 Niger Delta Human Development Report prepared by the UNDP is very timely. In this review, we shall discuss the issues raised by the report. We shall also analyse what we have called the Niger Delta question and explore how the report has dealt with it. We will then propose ways of resolving the Niger Delta question after giving the implications of the report for stakeholders and programming for development in the region. But first, we shall clarify some conceptual issues that are of importance in the report and highlight the uniqueness of the report.

2. CONCEPTUAL ISSUES

There are many concepts used within the context of the report whose understanding is germane to grasping the full import of the report. We shall explicate three of these: Development, Human Development Report and Niger Delta. The concept of development is a very controversial one. We have argued elsewhere that the definitions and interpretations of development are influenced by history, discipline, ideological orientation and training.[i] In fact, the post development school argues that the term is unjust, has never worked and should be dismantled.[ii] Chambers defines development as “good change”.[iii] This definition envisages that development is synonymous with progress. This progress should entail an all-encompassing improvement, a process that builds on itself and involve both individuals and social change.[iv] Kamghampati argues that development requires growth and structural change, some measure of distributive equity, modernization in social and cultural attitudes, a degree of political transformation and stability, an improvement in health and education so that population growth stabilizes, and an increase in urban living and employment.[v]

The Human Development Report (HDR) was launched by UNDP in 1990 to promote people centred development. Over the years, it has become one of the most respected and authoritative sources of knowledge and insight about global development issues, as well as a valued tool for influencing policy.[vi] Though commissioned by UNDP, HDR is usually independently produced by a select team of leading scholars and development practitioners. The UNDP normally produces global, national and regional HDRs. The report’s major index, Human Development Index (HDI) serves as a successful alternative to GDP as a measure of development. It is however important to point out that there are limitations in the use of HDI. Most of the indicators used in computing the HDI do not include items such as roads, water, electricity and appropriate waste management which are necessary to determine the quality of life of citizens.

There have been several descriptions of what is today referred to as Niger Delta. Despite the differences, there is a common criterion for defining the Niger Delta and that is geographical location. There are at least four different ways that the Niger Delta has been described in Nigeria. The first is the ‘natural’ or ‘core’ Niger Delta which is made up of those areas that constitute the ‘great delta’ of the River Niger that arises on the northeastern border of Sierra Leone and flows in a great arc for 4,100 km north-east through Mali and Western Niger before turning southwards to empty into the Gulf of Guinea.[vii] The States that constitute the core Niger Delta are Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States. The second is the geopolitical Niger Delta which consists of states in the South South geopolitical zone of Nigeria namely Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Edo States. The third is the oil producing Niger Delta which is made up of the nine oil producing States of Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Abia, Imo and Ondo States. The Niger Delta used in this report is the oil producing Niger Delta covering the nine states. The fourth is the coastal States of Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers and Edo which has been popularized by the setting up of the Presidential Council on Social and Economic Development of the Coastal States of the Niger Delta.

3. UNIQUENESS OF THE REPORT

The 2006 UNDP Niger Delta Human Development Report is certainly not the first report on the Niger Delta. There have been several reports by organisations including those by Environmental Rights Action (ERA), Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL), Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Human Rights Watch, African Network of Economic and Environmental Justice (ANEEJ), Centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN), Women Aid Collective (WACOL), Niger Delta Environmental Survey (NDES), Niger Delta Wetlands Centre, Centre for Advanced Social Sciences (CASS) and Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD). [viii] But this report under review is unique in many ways. First and foremost, it is the first sub-regional human development report in Nigeria to be conducted by UNDP. Although UNDP has been conducting Human Development Report in the country since 1996, this is the first one focused on a region which underscores the grave challenge that the region faces. Secondly, from the conception to implementation, emphasis was placed on challenges of the region as articulated by people of the region. From the lead consultant (Environmental Resources Managers Ltd) to the participants at the stakeholders’ consultation meetings in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Calabar, there was high level participation by citizens of the region. No doubt, the process gave prominence to the time tested concept of participation which is recognized by all but seldomly practiced. Thirdly, the report focused heavily on women and youth. The focus on women is very important and strategic especially as it has been shown clearly there is a clear linkage between women empowerment and development. Meanwhile, it has been documented that women are discriminated against, marginalized and oppressed in Nigeria.[ix] The focus on youth is crucial because 60.1 percent of people in the Niger Delta are below 30 years of age.[x] Finally and perhaps most importantly is the focus of the report on human development.

4. THE REPORT

The 218 paged Niger Delta report is divided into seven chapters. Chapter One analysed the amazing paradoxes of the Niger Delta as a region with enormous resources accounting for “upwards of 80 percent of Nigeria’s exchange earnings and about 70 percent of government revenue” yet “suffering from administrative neglect, crumbling social infrastructure and services, high unemployment, social deprivation, abject poverty, filth and squalor, and endemic conflict” (p. 9). The chapter discusses the concepts of “people-centred development,” “participatory development,” and sustainable human development which should “enable people to realize their potential, build self-confidence and lead lives of dignity and fulfillment; free people from poverty, ignorance, filth, squalor, deprivation and exploitation, recognizing that underdevelopment has wider social consequences and correct for existing economic, social or political injustices and oppression.” (p.9). The report gave a comprehensive definition of sustainable human development as popularized by the United Nations as “Development that not only generates economic growth but distributes its benefits equitably; that regenerates the environment rather than destroys it; that empowers people rather than marginalsing them. It gives priority to the poor, enlarging their choices and opportunities, and provides for their participation in decisions affecting them……is development that is pro-poor, pro-nature, pro-jobs, and pro-women. It stresses growth, but growth with employment, growth with environmental friendliness, growth with empowerment, and growth with equity.” (p.10). The report then gave a rationale for a human development approach to the Niger Delta which includes the fact that top-down development plans have made little impact on the real lives of the people of the delta.

The report traced the history of development planning in Nigeria from the ten year colonial development plan from 1946-1955 through the post independent development plans and the responses of government to perceived marginalization of the region from the Willinks report to the setting up of the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB) in 1961; Niger Delta Basin Development Authority (NDBDA) in 1976, Oil and Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) in 1992 and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2000. The report argued that these agencies “did not make any meaningful impact on the lives and environment of the Niger Delta people for many reasons” including the fact that “the local people had no say” in their composition and management; the loyalty of the officials is “not to the Niger Delta but to the Federal Government and oil companies,” profligacy and extravagance and that they are merely contract awarding agencies. More importantly, all these agencies are seen by the Niger Delta people as imposition. A classic example is the NDBDA where “none of the board members appointed by the Federal Government to run the Authority came from the Niger Delta.” (p.12).

The chapter also addressed the vexed issue of revenue allocation vis-à-vis derivation formula from independence to date as shown in the table below:

Table 1: Federal and State Shares petroleum Proceeds

Source Modification of Sagay 2001 (Quoted in the report)

As can be seen from the table below, there was a drastic reduction of the percentage for derivation from 50 percent in the first republic (1960-67) when agricultural products were the main revenue sources to nothing from 1979-81 and 3 percent from 1992-1999 and then to the present 13 percent. The report concluded that the reason for the drastic change in the size of the derivation formula was the onset of the civil war which was to lead to the political and fiscal centralization of the federal system. The report states categorically that “only an equitable revenue allocation formula will ease the tension, agitations and perceptions of unfairness.”

The chapter also gave an history of resistance in the region including those by King William Koko of Nembe who resisted the Royal Niger Company from 1894-95; King Nana of Itsekiri (1896); Oba Overanmi of Benin (1897), Isaac Adaka Boro (1966), Ken Saro Wiwa (1993-95) and the Kaiama Declaration of 1998-2000. The chapter also elucidated the methodology of the report which is a combination of conventional research methods (document analysis and survey methods) and participatory approach of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). The report also gave an outline of the people and settlement patterns in the Niger Delta with 13,329 settlements in the region, 94 percent of which have populations of less than 5,000 people. The table 2 below gives the projected population of the Niger Delta.

Table 2: Projected Population of Niger Delta States