Lagos — From being prided as the region that lays the golden egg for the nation, the Niger Delta gradually slipped into the abyss of underdevelopment and environmental pollution. Today, it has metamorphosed into a zone characterised by militancy, pipeline vandalisation and hostage-taking for ransom. This region that accounts for only about 7.5% of Nigeria's landmass has become a top priority of the President Umaru Yar'Adua's administration, having been similarly prioritised by the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The Niger Delta, which borders the Gulf of Guinea, is the third largest wetland in the world and covers over 70,000 square kilometres. It is presently the only region in the country that attracts both local and global attention not necessarily because of its huge oil deposit, but more as a result of the consequences of oil exploration and years of neglect that has transformed the zone into the most volatile area in the country in terms of youth restiveness, militancy and hostage-taking.

But this isn't the first time that issues relating to the Niger Delta will attract national attention. Since the days of Adaka Boro when attempt to proclaim independence for the region was foiled by federal troops, and the period of protracted ethnic rivalry between the Ijaws and the Itshekiris, to the struggle by renowned poet and Ogoni leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa, coupled with the various incessant vandalisation of pipelines, the Niger Delta region had always been a subject of national discourse.

Since oil exploration started in the region in the late 1930s and the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in 1956 at the village of Oloibiri, the Niger Delta has continued to face developmental and environmental challenges. This include high level of poverty, decline in agricultural production, low level of industrial activities, environmental degradation and social conflicts. Though there had always been the tendency to adopt a quick fix in addressing issues relating to the Niger Delta, because of its peculiar, but difficult topography, which makes rapid developmental strides beyond the powers of local authorities, the need for a special developmental agency to address the problems of the region had never been in doubt. That, apparently was why the Willink's Commission of 1958 recommended that the region deserves special focus, a suggestion that led to the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB) in 1960. Not much could however be achieved by the board before the Nigerian civil war broke in 1967. With the outbreak of the civil war, the board died naturally.

The negative impacts of oil exploration coupled with the neglect which the region suffered under successive military regimes prompted a Presidential Taskforce during the regime of President Shehu Shagari to recommend the allocation of 1.5 per cent of the federation account to tackle the developmental problems of the oil-producing areas. Like the NDDB, the Presidential Committee could not achieve its objectives before the military struck in 1983 and was consequently scrapped.

It however took the adoption of the Ogoni Bill of Rights by the leaders of Ogoniland in 1990, before the plight of the people of the Niger Delta was brought to the front burner of national discourse again. The bill, which was sent to the then military government of President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (rtd) accused the Nigerian government of using over N40 billion oil revenue derived from the area (as at then) to develop other parts of the country while ogoniland remained underdeveloped. The bill expressed the desire of the Ogoni people to take their destiny into their hands and manage their own affairs.

Forced by the protracted restiveness in the region, the administration of General Babangida created the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) in 1992 with the primary responsibility of undertaking development projects in all the oil producing areas. OMPADEC, which had 3 per cent of federally allocated revenue as source of its funding, became the first major step towards bringing development to the Niger Delta. The commission could however not tackle the environmental and developmental challenges of the region before it was scrapped in 1999.

With the inauguration of democratic government in 1999, agitation for resource control by the people of the region increased. As parts of his electoral promises of addressing the developmental issues affecting the region, President Olusegun Obasanjo established another intervention agency, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which has been described as the first comprehensive effort to bring development to the region through an Act of the parliament. At the tail end of his administration, Obasanjo, after various consultations with stakeholders, also announced the Niger Delta Development Masterplan which provides a holistic framework for the development of the region.

Many have however wondered why despite the huge financial resources that have gone to the zone within the last eight years, the developmental challenges of the region remained substantially unaddressed, a development that further increased the tempo of violent agitations and restiveness in the region.

While the pioneer boss of the defunct OMPADEC, Chief AK Horsfall attributes this to the uncoordinated activities of the various development stakeholders in the region which has led to the duplication of development projects, many have put the blame on the massive corruption in the two-tiers of government in the zone. There are also views that blame this on the inadequate funding of the NDDC as a key inter-state development agency.

The rising wave of militancy in the region and the kidnapping of expatriates for ransom in recent time has made the Niger Delta to be conspicuous on the global map, a development that has further put pressure on the Nigerian authorities to resolve the crisis plaguing the region. Today, the Niger Delta region has become the most dangerous place for expatriates to live in Nigeria. This untoward development is already taking its tolls not only on the economic activities in the region but also on the nation's economy as oil exploration have either been reduced or completely halted in some areas, while some foreign companies have even pulled out of the Niger Delta, and in some cases, out of the country.

Apart from President Yar'Adua declaring that the development of the zone is top on his priority list, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan has said that his main assignment in the first six months of the life of the present administration is to stabilise the Niger Delta area. In pursuit of this objective, the Federal Government recently raised a peace and reconciliation committee headed by Senator David Brigidi of Bayelsa State with the mandate to concentrate on peace and conflict resolution in the Niger Delta for the next 12 months.

On the issue of oil spill which, over the years, has affected, adversely, fishing in the zone, which is the traditional occupation of the people and other agricultural activities, President Yar'Adua has made a policy statement on how his administration will tackle this problem. At a meeting with the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Yar'Adua said oil companies operating in the country would be made to pay heavily for oil spill.

Apart from this, various commentators on the Niger Delta crisis have advocated the adoption of a comprehensive policy that would bring basic social and economic infrastructure to the region within the shortest time, and creation of job opportunities for those whose means of livelihood have been affected by oil spill and other forms of environmental pollution. The need to devise a monitoring mechanism that will ensure that all funds that go into the region are judiciously expended for the development of the zone has also been advocated.

So far, the story of the Niger Delta has been that of neglect, youth restiveness, environmental pollution and degradation, oil spillage, gas flaring, hostage-taking, militancy, lack of social and economic infrastructure, joblessness, and abject poverty. Not a few however believe that this story could be changed if all the stakeholders have their activities coordinated for effective and efficient delivery, and if the NDDC, which is the intervention agency in the region, is further strengthened to carry out its statutory function unhindered by lack of funds or bureaucratic bottlenecks.