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The Niger Delta at a glance
The Niger Delta is the third largest wetlands in the world
after Mississippi and the Pantanal. It covers an area of
about 70,000 square kilometers and is noted for its
peculiar and difficult terrain. The whole area is
traversed and criss –crossed by a large number of
rivulets, streams, canals and reeks. The coastal line is
buffeted throughout the year by the tides of the Atlantic
Ocean while the mainland is subjected to regimes of flood
by the various rivers, particularly River Niger.
The Niger Delta region comprises of nine states, namely,
Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross river, Delta, Edo, Imo,
Ondo and Rivers states; 185 local government areas and a
population of about 20 million. It has 40 different ethnic
groups, speaking 250 dialects, spread across 5,000
communities. At the beginning, the Niger Delta was limited
to the geographic area occupied mainly by minorities of
Southern Nigeria but today, the region has become
synonymous with the oil producing states.
The region is rich in natural resources, including oil and
gas, cash crops including oil palm, rubber, cocoa,
coconut, a diversity of aquatic resources and fertile land
which supports year round agriculture.
The Niger Delta accounts for more than 90% of earnings
from oil and gas and about 60% of federally distributed
revenue. It also accounts for oil reserves of about 30
billion barrels and gas reserves of about 160 trillion
cubit feet.
But despite its rich resources, it has one of the most
crushing poverty levels in the world.
The Niger Delta people have continued to live with a range
of environmental problems from health hazards to lack of
safe water and arable land. In spite of the Delta’s
resource endowment, its immense potential for economic
growth and sustainable development, the region is in a
parlous state.
It is under threat from rapidly deteriorating economic
conditions and social tension. It has remained wholly
underdeveloped and poor. Until recently, THE Federal
Government and the oil companies operating in the area
failed to take appropriate action to check the rampant
environmental abuse prevalent in the Niger Delta.
The Ogoni crisis brought to the fore the complicated
problems of the Niger Delta.
A recent study of this region by the World Bank warned:
“an urgent need exists to implement a mechanism to protect
the life and health of the region’s inhabitants and its
ecological systems from further deterioration”.
A similar opinion is presented by Heiner Woller, project
Director, Gesellschaft fur Tecnische Zussanmenarbeit, GTZ,
a German firm, researching on Niger Delta:
The greatest problem we have identified in the Niger Delta
is poverty. Seventy per cent of the people in the area are
on poverty line and the poverty level in the region is
well above African standards… Over two million youths are
unemployed and they seem to have lost hope; faith and
dignity in life, while 40 per cent of the people are
illiterates”.
The Niger Delta is Nigeria’s least developed region. The
World Bank puts the per capita income at below $280
despite its high population. Health indicators lag behind
national average. Infrastructure including Medicare is
also poor and the cost of food is high despite its fertile
land.
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