Okonjo-Iweala, Aig-Imoukhuede decry N’Delta resource woes amid $160bn returns

Niger Delta leaders and economic stakeholders have raised concerns over the region’s failure to translate its vast resource wealth into commensurate development, despite receiving about $160bn in federal allocations and other interventions over the past 27 years.

They spoke on Tuesday at the ongoing Niger Delta Economic and Investment Summit 2026, organised by the Niger Delta Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines and Agriculture in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Chairman of Access Holdings Plc, Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, said the region had a “conversion problem,” arguing that natural resources created possibilities but institutions, infrastructure, skills and enterprise were required to turn those possibilities into sustainable prosperity.

Also speaking, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the region’s development indicators remained troubling despite its enormous natural and human resources, noting that about 24 million people, representing roughly 48 per cent of its estimated 50 million population, were multidimensionally poor.

Aig-Imoukhuede, while delivering the keynote address at the summit, revealed that the Niger Delta had received an accumulated $160bn from resources produced in the region since 1999 without commensurate development to show for it.

He stated, “Since 1999, by my estimates, the Niger Delta states and their local governments have received the historical equivalent of $140bn in federal allocations, including the benefit of agriculture.

“When the substantial resources separately channelled through the NDDC are taken into account, I think the accumulated resource has been about $160bn over 27 years. There are no single consolidated public accounts.”

He further said, “The Niger Delta has a conversion problem. Natural resources do not create prosperity by themselves. Natural resources create possibilities. And as you know, we all dream of possibilities.

“And when we wake up, all those wonderful things that we dreamt of, we find that the dream is not enough to become reality. So resources create possibilities, but it is institutions that determine what happens to our possibilities and our dreams.

“Development takes place when a society can combine resources – the things I’ve mentioned – capital, infrastructure, skills, and enterprise in a way that continuously increases productivity and improves living standards.”

He queried what infrastructure the region had that raised productivity, saying, “What industrial capacity was created? What regional economic platforms emerged? What institutions have been established that can repeatedly originate, finance, and execute complex projects?

“What globally competitive enterprises grew out of this period? What assets would still be producing 25 years from now?”

The Access Holdings Plc boss said it was true that the region was blessed with enormous hydrocarbon reserves, extensive coastlines and waterways, fertile land, major urban centres, ports, universities, entrepreneurs and a brilliant youthful population, yet “most recent comprehensive poverty surveys suggest that more than half of our people are multidimensionally poor.

“And in some of the most resource-rich states, the incidence is substantially higher,” he added.

Aig-Imoukhuede said the Niger Delta region required a development and investment compact, which he described as “a durable framework within which our nine constituencies, the Federal Government, the private enterprise, communities, development institutions, and long-term capital can agree a limited number of regional priorities and organise themselves to deliver them.”

Okonjo-Iweala, in a virtual goodwill message, said the region’s development indicators remained troubling despite its enormous natural and human resources.

She said available data showed that only four Niger Delta states were among the top 10 on the National Human Development Index, which measures education, health and living standards.

She said about 24 million people, representing roughly 48 per cent of the region’s estimated 50 million population, were multidimensionally poor.

The WTO DG further said about 60 per cent of households in the region lacked access to clean water, compared with a national average of 51 per cent, while 72 per cent lacked adequate sanitation facilities.

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Okonjo-Iweala urged the private sector to lead efforts to reverse the trend by investing in the region and demonstrating that the Niger Delta was open for business.

“The private sector, led by the Chambers, could partner with the governments of the region to establish viable special economic zones that form the backbone of a regenerated Niger Delta region,” she said.

The WTO DG identified critical minerals, agriculture and the coastal economy as three areas in which the region could diversify beyond oil.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala said minerals such as kaolin, silica, clay and bentonite could support industries ranging from construction to electronics, while the region’s agricultural resources could be processed into high-value products.

She also urged the region to exploit its coastline, seaports, fisheries and aquaculture potential to build a thriving coastal economy.

The Niger Delta Development Commission Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, said the summit provided an opportunity for the region to rethink its economic future rather than continue its historical dependence on oil.

Ogbuku said the revival of the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce was designed to create a bridge between the Commission, government institutions, businesses and the people.

He disclosed that the NDDC had provided funds to support small and medium-scale enterprises through the Chamber, stressing that the initiative was structured to reach qualified beneficiaries rather than operate through political patronage.

The NDDC MD said the region must stop relying on outsiders to develop it and begin investing its own resources in the Niger Delta.

He stated, “The main resource of the Niger Delta is the people. Good oil will come and go, but the human resources will remain.”

He proposed a common regional development roadmap involving the nine Niger Delta states, including integrated power and rail systems that would facilitate the movement of goods, services and people across the region.

“One state alone cannot do it. But in coming together, we can achieve this,” he said.

Ogbuku also urged the summit organisers to establish a Niger Delta think tank comprising accomplished professionals, bankers, captains of industry and other experts from the region to develop and champion long-term economic policies.

In his welcome address, Chairman of NDCCITMA, Idaere Gogo Ogan, said the summit was designed to move the region beyond repeated discussions about its potential to actual investment and value creation.

Ogan said the objective was to move “from resources to productivity, from extraction to value, and from dependence to sustainable economic diversification.”

He said the region offered investment opportunities in agriculture and agro-processing, oil and gas value chains, gas utilisation, petrochemicals, maritime, tourism and digital technology.

The NDCCITMA chairman disclosed that the Chamber, in partnership with the NDDC, had facilitated over N5b in SME capital injection to more than 4,000 beneficiaries across the nine Niger Delta states within the last one and a half years.

He said the Chamber was also developing an agricultural aggregation and logistics system aimed at linking farmers and cooperatives to supermarkets and export markets.

“The next agricultural revolution is about to begin in the Niger Delta region,” Ogan stated.