NDDC COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SCHEME; NGO SEEKS LOCAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000628

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W, INR/AA, DS/IP/AF, DS/ICI/PII, DS/DSS/OSAC
OSLO FOR HELENA SCHRADER
DOE FOR GPERSON, CAROLYN GAY
TREASURY FOR ASEVERENS, SRENENDER, DFIELDS
COMMERCE FOR KBURRESS
STATE PASS USTR FOR ASST USTR FLISER
STATE PASS TRANSPORTATION FOR MARAD
STATE PASS OPIC FOR ZHAN AND MSTUCKART
STATE PASS TDA FOR NCABOT
STATE PASS EXIM FOR JRICHTER
STATE PASS USAID FOR GWEYNAND AND SLAWAETZ

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/17/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC NI
SUBJECT: NDDC COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SCHEME; NGO SEEKS LOCAL
GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY


Classified By: Acting Consul General Donald McConnell for reasons 1.4 (
B) and (D)


1. (C) Summary: The Niger Delta Development Commission
(NDDC) told international oil companies (IOCs) it would
pursue community-driven development in pilot communities in
2008, and if successful, in all nine NDDC states by 2009.
Bill Knight, Executive Director of Pro-Natura International,
thought the NDDC and GON could develop the Niger Delta if
they pressured local government councils (LGCs) to spend
funds wisely. Knight, an expatriate living in the Niger
Delta for over 20 years, was ambivalent about returning to
Port Harcourt after leaving four months ago. End Summary.

-------------- --------------
NDDC Unveils Community Development Scheme To IOCs
-------------- --------------


2. (C) According to Bill Knight, Executive Director of
Pro-Natura International (PNI),an NGO focused on
community-driven development, the Niger Delta Development
Commission (NDDC) recently presented its 2008 funding plan
for community development to the Oil Producers Trade Section
(OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, the coordinating
vehicle for the international oil companies (IOCs). An OPTS
attendee told Knight the NDDC development path appears to
have been modeled after PNI's community development
foundations (CDFs); CDFs enable communities to influence how
local governments spend resources. The NDDC reportedly
proposed to use a few communities in three of the nine NDDC
states as pilots during 2008, and if successful, the NDDC
would broaden the project to all nine states by 2009.


3. (C) While Knight was pleased to see PNI's model adopted
by the NDDC, he was skeptical the NDDC would give it the
commitment, financial support, and political will needed for
success. However, if Yar'Adua's Administration is truly
interested in bringing development to the Niger Delta, they
will need to address corruption at the local government
level, Knight posited. The CDFs are one way to achieve this,
he said. He described excessive financial abuse by local
government chairmen and councils by calling them "extractive
industries" and the "worst possible thing" for communities.
Nigerian national, state and local governments have drafted
Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (NEEDS,
SEEDS, and LEEDS). In contrast, Knight said PNI helps
communities develop community driven economic empowerment and
development strategies (CEEDS) so they can communicate their
needs to local government.

-------------- --------------
GON, Governors & Communities Should Pressure LGAs
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Pro-Natura International (PNI) currently works with a
limited number of communities in Rivers, Bayelsa and Akwa
Ibom to help them influence local government chairmen to meet
the community's needs. Opobo-Nkoro, Rivers State, one of
PNI's successful host communities, could be a prime example
for what Knight refers to as a multi-tier approach in
influencing local governments: community leaders, rulers,
PNI, and French oil firm Total (which operates in
Opobo-Nkoro),bring pressure on local government chairman and
council members to act in the community's best interest.


5. (C) According to Knight, IOCs recognize the need for
local government accountability; Knight would like to see
IOCs and the international community pressure government into
a top-down monitoring system, he said. If the Federal and
state governments instituted this top-down monitoring

LAGOS 00000628 002 OF 002


process, the multi-tier approach would have much greater
success, Knight averred. He proposed Vice President Jonathan
assume a monitoring and evaluation role to ensure state
governments heed the Federal Government's requests. One
successful community could be turned into a "living
university system" where community and local government
representatives from other areas would come to understand how
the community development foundations work.


6. (C) Knight admitted his model needed greater stakeholder
buy-in and would face political challenges, but was hopeful
that with intervention, it could succeed. Knight thought a
"convening power" such as the United Nations or United States
would be needed to draw communities, PNI and other NGOs,
IOCs, and state governments together to begin dialogue and
build interest in this model, he commented. Local government
elections slated to hold in December 2007 could "get nasty,"
he predicted. Knight informed Poloff eight of Bayelsa's 32
local government chairmen, some in high oil producing areas,
receive their funds directly from the Federal account and
therefore do not feel compelled to abide any state government
requests. Therefore if the Federal government does not
support the NDDC project, it could have limited benefit, he
remarked.

--------------
Safe Return to Port Harcourt?
--------------


7. (C) Knight, an expatriate who has lived in the Niger
Delta for over 20 years, was ambivalent about returning to
Port Harcourt after leaving four months ago as violence
escalated. Two of Knight's Nigerian contacts said they
temporarily left the city when heavy fighting broke outside
their homes in early August. Knight said an expatriate
friend remaining in Port Harcourt finds it "quite boring."
There are few places to go given security concerns and the
forced closure of bars and restaurants due to decreased
patronage.

--------------
Comment
--------------


8. (C) Knight's optimism on the NDDC's adoption of
community-driven development was tempered by his skepticism
over whether the NDDC would commit the needed resources and
political will. That skepticism is well founded.
Nonetheless, the NDDC's purported embrace of community-based
projects is a marked departure from their previous
approaches, and a positive development. End Comment.
MCCONNELL