allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Making a Difference in Niger Delta (Page 1 of 2)

The Niger Delta region is Nigeria's and Africa's largest marshland, and the third largest wetland in the world. The region has a steadily growing population put at about 40 million people as of 2006. The population growth has not been commensurate with infrastructural and human development. However, investigation shows that with huge development projects by NDDC scattered in the region, the commission is poised to make a difference in the area. Roland Ogbonnaya writes

Mr. Dumni Ogbum is about 47 years old and the youths' leader in the community. He said that as a school they were used to swimming across the water to go to school in the next village as there was none in their own village. Ogbum said they will remove their uniform and hold it aloft and swim to the other side of the river to dress up for school.

Most children from Abua community in Rivers State went to school going through this daily ritual until 2003 when the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) came to their rescue. The commission did not only award the contract of constructing a befitting road but also added a bridge to it. Both adult and children in Abua, Owerewere and Ochigba communities can now drive from one village to another against the swimming experience Ogbum and other went through in his youth.

Ogbum and other young men who gathered at the construction site recently on the road said the communities appreciate the effort of NDDC in providing the road and bridge for them. According to him, for the people life has improved and they can now add value to their lives. "We are happy about the road as this will improve the economic welfare of the people. However, all we want is the contractor s to expedite action on the job as well as carry the communities along," Ogbum added.

The story of the people of Etche and Omuma local governments is more touching. Both local governments are in Rivers State, but the people to visit each other; they have to go through Abia State. The cheering news for the people is that by the time the construction of the Okehi-Ebri-Omuma road with the 120 metre long bridge is completed, there would be no need to go through another state to visit each other. The construction of the road and bridge was awarded to Homan Engineering Company Limited in 2004 at the cost of N1,274,286,195.00. Sixty per cent of the contract has been executed and for the people life will never be the same again when the whole job is completed.

From Rivers State to Bayelsa, Edo, Delta, Akwa Ibom and other oil producing states are one huge construction site as NDDC, according to its mandate are developing the creeks and the hinter lands in an effort to make life of the rural people very meaningful. The commission has engaged contractors for the contractors for the construction of over 50 road and bridge projects in the states and running into billions of naira.

Some of these projects include the construction of Otuasega-Obedum-Emirikpo-Anyu-Emelego road and bridge, Elele Alimini-Akpabu Itu-Erema road, market and bridge, construction of Ogbogu internal roads and drains amongst others which are in different states of construction in Rivers State.

In Bayelsa, some of the ongoing projects that are on different degrees of completion visited by some journalists recently include the Odi Trofani road/bridge phase I and II contracts, Otuake-Onuebum road and bridge, the Kaiama shoreline protection and the production of portable water running into billions of naira.

Over the years, government efforts have been made to address the Niger Delta problems: The Willinks Commission-1958, which led to the proclamation of Niger Delta as Special Area in 1959; the Niger Delta Development Board of 1959; the Niger Delta Basin Development Authority (NDBDA) established in 1976; the Special Fund for Oil Producing Areas by Revenue Act of 1981; Presidential Task Force for the Development of Oil Producing Areas (from 1.5 per cent Special Fund)-1989; the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) which received three per cent derivation in 1992; implementation of 13 per cent derivation fund, 2000; the Lt-Gen. Alexander Ogomudia Committee, 2002, which recommended 50 per cent oil derivation for oil producing states: "People of the Niger Delta should be made to participate in the oil industry in the areas of crude oil and product lifting, licensed oil bunkering, oil bloc and marginal field allocation," the committee said.

Other government efforts to attend to the region's problems include: The Peter Odili Committee on Disarmament; Dr. Goodluck Jonathan Committee on Empowerment-2006; NNPC Emphasis on Local Content development in the Oil Industry; Establishment of the Presidential Council of Coastal States and appointment of Honorary Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta-2006, and then the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) established by an Act of 2000. The NDDC was established by former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, with the sole mandate of developing the oil-rich Niger-Delta region of southern Nigeria.

However, these efforts have failed to address the region's myriad of problems for a numbers reasons: poor crisis management approach to project conception and delivery; discontinuity in government and policy/programme inconsistency; inadequate funding; white elephant projects and duplications; official recklessness and corruption; lack of political commitment; minimal if any partnering, and non-engagement of civil society; weak coordination and therefore low synergy between tiers of government and development agencies as well as lack of a coherent and integrated Master Plan for the development of the region.

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