Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, a Keynote Speaker at the ongoing Niger Delta Economic and Investment Summit 2026, revealed that oil-producing states in the region have collected roughly $160 billion in revenue from their natural resources since 1999 without corresponding development.
Aig-Imoukhuede, who disclosed this yesterday in Port Harcourt according to The Guardian, claimed large income accruing to the region had not translated to matching advances in development indices and the living standards of its people.
“By my calculations, since 1999, the Niger Delta states and their local councils have been given the equivalent of $140 billion in federal allocations, including the benefit of agriculture.
“I think when you add up the enormous resources that have been routed via the NEDC separately, I think the accumulated resources have been roughly $160 billion over 27 years. “There are not single consolidated public accounts,” he stated.
Aig-Imoukhhuede asked several questions concerning the region’s infrastructure that improves production.
“What industrial capacity was built up? What regional economic platforms sprang up? What institutions have been created to enable the recurrent initiation, funding and execution of complicated projects? What world class businesses came out of this period? “What assets will be still cranking 25 years from now?
He agreed that the region has enormous hydrocarbon reserves, extensive coastlines and waterways, fertile land, major urban centers, ports, universities, entrepreneurs and a brilliant youthful population. But, “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 far higher.”
Chairman of Access Bank Holdings, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, said the Niger Delta region needs a development and investment compact, a long-lasting framework under which our nine constituencies, the federal government, the private enterprise, communities, development institutions and long-term capital can agree on a small number of regional priorities and mobilise themselves to deliver them.
Meanwhile, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has called on the Niger Delta to shun dependence on oil income and embrace investment, job creation and economic diversification led by the private sector to fight the region’s rising poverty.
Okonjo-Iweala, who spoke yesterday at the Niger Delta Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines and Agriculture (NDCCTMA) Investment Summit in Port Harcourt, said strong partnership between the government and the private sector was crucial to unlocking the region’s huge economic potential and improving the living standards of its people.
“The economic development of the region has to be led by results that are measurable, accountability and private-sector discipline, not by creating another public-sector institution that depends on government resources,” she said.
She said the Chamber’s areas of focus including as commerce and trade, mining and extractives, oil and gas, manufacturing, building and finance could greatly change the lives of Niger Delta citizens if effectively managed.
She added the available statistics showed that the region’s development indicators were still unsatisfactory despite its abundance of natural resources, financial allocations and pool of brilliant people.
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