It is exactly 64 years since the commercial export of crude oil from the lands, rivers and creeks of the Niger Delta began. In that period, the Nigerian state and its oil company partners have generated tremendous wealth. Conversely, the region has dropped significantly on all development indicators. Our states are plagued with the worst employment indicators, unusually low life expectancy, high levels of conflict and criminality, poor education and health records, massive pollution and livelihood losses. In 66 years of extraction, the Niger Delta region has declined from a thriving agricultural and fisheries hub, to an ecological wasteland with angry and destitute people.

Political leaderships in the region are also indicted in what the Niger Delta has become. Increasing revenues over the years have not necessarily translated to improved development and wellbeing for the vast majority of the people. Despite the accrual of an additional 13% share of revenues derived from oil amounting to trillions of naira in the last decades, development indicators have not improved in comparison to other less endowed states. The Niger Delta Development Commission and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, both established as special purpose responses to the challenges in the region, have largely failed. The NDDC in particular has become a cesspool of corruption and fraud; and an embarrassment to the people of the region.

In recent times, new threats have emerged that overshadow the region and its people. In late 2021, the Nigerian government endorsed a new Petroleum Industry Act which has far reaching implications for the region. While for example the Act establishes a Host Communities Trust Fund for transferring benefits, the actual amount of benefits, the manner the Trust is established and governed, the way it criminalizes Niger Delta communities, the way it proposes to manage gas flares and the general sense of uncertainty, raise fundamental concerns.

It is exactly 64 years since the commercial export of crude oil from the lands, rivers and creeks of the Niger Delta began. In that period, the Nigerian state and its oil company partners have generated tremendous wealth. Conversely, the region has dropped significantly on all development indicators. Our states are plagued with the worst employment indicators, unusually low life expectancy, high levels of conflict and criminality, poor education and health records, massive pollution and livelihood losses. In 66 years of extraction, the Niger Delta region has declined from a thriving agricultural and fisheries hub, to an ecological wasteland with angry and destitute people.