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Nigeria: Niger Delta Struts the Path to Peace
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Leadership (Abuja)
OPINION
8 May 2008
Posted to the web 8 May 2008
The commitment of President Yar'Adua's administration to give urgent priority to the problems in the Niger Delta has given impetus to hopes that a peaceful settlement might finally be in sight for the troubled region.
President Yar'Adua's seven-point agenda for development gives high priority to finding a resolution in the Niger Delta, and government continues to make efforts to come to a position acceptable to all the stakeholders in the area.
Nigeria is the world's sixth largest oil producing nation and much of its oil is situated in the Niger Delta region. But oil has been a curse, rather than a blessing to the region, as different groupings seek to stake a claim to oil revenues. The combination of competing ethnic groups, widespread poverty and easily available firearms sparked sporadic outbreaks of violence throughout most of the 1990s. In 2000, the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo set up the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in an attempt to encourage socio-economic development of the region.
After the election of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in April 2007, the new president pledged that his administration would tackle the problems in the region as a matter of top priority. In his inaugural May address, he asserted: "The crisis in the Niger Delta commends our urgent attention. Ending it in a matter of strategic importance to our country. I will use every resource available to me, with your help to address this crisis in a "spirit of fairness, justice and cooperation".
Following this, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) offered the new government a temporary ceasefire to give it time to implement far-reaching changes that would meet the demands of the local communities. The president underlined his commitment in June by releasing the imprisoned NDPVF leader, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari. The MEND ceasefire broke up in September 2007, but the following months saw violence subside again.
The government is making good its promise to drive forward the economic and social rehabilitation of the region.
The Niger Delta master plan, being promoted by the NDDC, is an initiative designed to solve some of the problems of the area. The master plan is expected to cost US$50 billion over a fifteen-year period, and the government is partnering with international donors and private sector operators to fund the project. In the budget for 2008, the government committed US$566 million to the NDDC, more than twice last year's federal budget allocation for the commission.
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Oil companies operating in the region are expected to contribute 3% of their annual profit to the commission. To ensure efficiency in November 2007, vice President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated a committee to ensure that funding and projects are not duplicated across state governments and development bodies in the region. The master plan is directed at improving infrastructure and creating employment in the region.
As important as creating new opportunities is also the need to keep lines of communication open between all of the stakeholders in the conflict, even as the government continues to engage in dialogue with groups from all sides of the conflict, militants included. The president has had several meetings with stakeholders in the region, and the vice-president is engaged in dialogue with community and militant leaders in the run-up to a proposed Niger Delta Summit, due to be held in the near future.
All these are indicators of good things to come in the troubled oil-rich region.
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