Nigeria

Ending crisis in the Niger Delta: Community-owned development solutions

For Olatunji Durojaiye from Ilaje Local Government area in Ondo State, it was a dream come true when on Thursday 18 October 2007, the Governor of Ondo State Dr Olusegun Agagu, launched the UNDP Niger Delta Local Development Programme (LDP). Durojaiye expressed this when he said, “I wish this will come on board soonest so as to affect the well-being of our people. I see the project as enhancing the social well-being and integration amongst neighbouring LGAs and the State, especially with group and individual involvement. In terms of peace, this will go a long way in achieving that in the Niger Delta. I am pleased with it”.

UNDP has selected Ondo and Bayelsa States to pilot the LDP. The LDP designed by UNDP in partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria is a response to the recognition that effective governance at the local government level will be critical in addressing poverty reduction and conflict prevention in the Niger Delta on a sustainable basis.

Left to right: UNDP Resident Representative, Dr. Alberic Kacou; Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Otunba Omolade Oluwateru and a representative of the Community at the launch of the LDP

According to Albéric Kacou, UNDP Resident Representative, “the LDP strategy is innovative, and the approach which is applied in the programme has proved effective in achieving improvements in the effectiveness, responsiveness and accountability of local governance institutions in many countries where the UN works. Since the early nineties when it was first piloted, the UN has built up considerable experience in its implementation in countries as varied as Bangladesh, Laos, Nepal, Malawi, Vietnam as well as post conflict Ethiopia and Uganda with positive results”.

To give credence to the necessity of the LDP, the Ondo State Governor, Dr Agagu, said, “I am convinced that the lasting panacea to youth restiveness in the Niger Delta is the scaling up of development efforts through good governance, infrastructural development and sustainable poverty reduction strategies”. The Governor was represented by his Deputy Otunba Omolade Oluwateru.

The LDP strategy builds on existing institutions of local governance to promote integrated local development. The model engages State Governments, civil society, local governments and communities --deliberately including largely marginalized groups such as women, youths and persons living with HIV/AIDs to design needs-specific development solutions.

The design of the LDP follows on from a series of consultations, the Niger Delta Development Report, studies and assessments including a study of the perception of local governments by the citizenry along with lessons learnt from international experiences.

The Programme Chief Technical Adviser, Edward Mugabi informed at the launch, that the LDP will be implemented over a period of three years in two local government areas in each of the pilot state, selected through a compliance assessment process. The assessment checks compliance with planning, staffing, financial management and accountability capacities required to be in place under the Handbook on Local Government Administration, Model Financial Memoranda for Local Governments and Approved Scheme of Service for Local Government Employees in Nigeria

The innovative aspects of the LDP approach are decentralization of local governance, participatory local planning, ‘learning by doing’ capacity building, establishment of local development fund as well as participatory monitoring and evaluation. The corresponding components are local development framework, legal & regulatory framework, participatory planning procedure, local development fund, capacity building and monitoring and evaluation.

The project budget is US $13.5million (Naira 1.701 billion). US $ 8 million (Naira1.008 billion) is earmarked for local projects to be initiated by the communities and financed through the local development fund (LDF). The States and LGAs will contribute 10 % to the LDF budget in the first year and 20 % in the second and third years of the project.

The launch of the programme signaled a major milestone for the LDP, in the words of Kacou ”it has been a long journey but worthwhile one, as we are confident that the final product reflects our collective wishes for a project that addresses the major development needs of the people in the Niger Delta”.