Posted by Ben-Bright Mkpuma on
President Olusegun Obasanjo will this morning present a report on the state of human wellbeing in the Niger Delta to a wide spectrum of stakeholders.....
President Olusegun Obasanjo will this morning present a report on the state of human wellbeing in the Niger Delta to a wide spectrum of stakeholders interested in the transformation of the region that produces the oil that accounts for more than 95 per cent of Nigeria's foreign earnings but is paradoxically steeped in poverty.
The report, the Niger Delta Human Development Report, is the first sub-regional human development report in Nigeria to be commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which is indicative of the strategic significance of the region. It is an offshoot of a UNDP/Shell partnership aimed at strengthening human development in the region. The people of the region have over the decades been crying that they were being marginalised. They, however, demand for infrastructural development and wealth creation for their people.
Only recently, Obasanjo, in what seems like responding to their plight, announced palliative measures for the Niger Delta. Among such measures aimed at alleviating their poverty include 10 per cent employment of the people into the Police force, upgrading of healthcare facilities and their decaying educational system, as well as inaccessible roads.
Analysts are of the view that if today's report is faithfully implemented, restiveness nature in the region, which has resulted in destruction of oil installations and hostage taking by youths would be eliminated.
Adopting the human development framework for its research and analysis, the report was written by a consortium of experts who did extensive fieldwork in the region and held series of consultations with various stakeholders to ensure that the report reflects both the situation on the ground and the aspirations of the people.
"This report captures the challenges of this important region and presents ways out of these challenges as articulated by the people of the region," said Mr. Alfred Sallia Fawundu, the Officer-in-Charge for UNDP Nigeria.
"This report is significant not just because it is focusing on the human dimension of the situation of the Niger Delta, but also because it is, a priori, embedding the people of the region in the development process. For development to be meaningful and sustainable, it has to be participatory. This is one of the key recommendations of this report."
The report has both qualitative and quantitative data on the level of poverty in all the nine states and the 185 local government areas of the region. The states and local government areas are scored and ranked on how they measure up on the Human Development Index, a composite index of the three indicators of human welfare: income, health and education.
The report also x-rays how low infrastructure, environmental degradation, high cost of living, high incidence of HIV/AIDS, limited sources of livelihood, bad governance and incessant conflicts negatively impact on state of human well-being in the region.
Beyond capturing the paradox of wealth and poverty in the region, the report also proffers a human development agenda for the region, based on the views of the people of the region and best practices drawn from other oil producing countries.
The President will present the report at the meeting of the Council on the Social and Economic Development of the Coastal States of the Niger Delta. Set up three months ago by the president, the council comprises state governors, federal ministers, captains of the oil industry, donors, and community leaders. The report will be presented at the State House in Abuja.