PROVIDE INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE NIGER DELTA.

PROVIDE INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE NIGER DELTA...
by , on 2009-08-17 00:54:09
NOI Polls, the leading opinion research firm in Nigeria, today released the maiden report of its annual Niger Delta Survey to the public. The theme of the 2009 Niger Delta survey is ‘Unmasking a Lingering Crisis’.

The survey addresses economic, social, political, ecological and security issues in the Niger Delta. A significant finding from the survey was the need for infrastructure and social services to be provided by the federal, states and local governments, and oil companies investing in oil-producing communities.

When specifically asked what the Federal Government needs to do for the Niger Delta, survey respondents in the region asked for the construction of more roads (16%), more schools (13%) and more hospitals (8%). These expectations only increased when asked about the priorities of the oil-producing states and local governments. 23% of respondents in the Niger Delta said that more roads, hospitals (20%) and schools (15%) should be provided by the state governments. Likewise, local governments were expected to provide more schools by another 23% of Niger Delta respondents, while 21% said more hospitals should be built, and 15% said more roads should be constructed by the local governments.

The infrastructure needs of the Niger Delta also take prominence in an assessment of the relations between oil companies and ‘host’ communities. Generally, 6 in 10 (60%) of respondents in the Niger Delta said that oil companies are not doing enough for the people of the region, although at the national level, a much lower percentage of people (37%) said that the oil companies are not doing enough. Regarding the expectations of oil companies making new oil and gas investments in local communities, almost 1 in 3 (28%) respondents said they expected the provision of social services (including water and health facilities) from the oil companies, while an equal number of respondents (11%) chose the provision of infrastructure and scholarships as the top priority.
The recurrence of violence in the Niger Delta, and the limited success with the existing strategies to resolve the causes of the unrest in the region pose fundamental challenges for the future of Nigeria’s petroleum sector. The crisis has undoubtedly taken an immense toll on the economic, social and political fabric of the region. However, the absence of comprehensive data and information on the opinions of the residents of the Niger Delta further compounds the inability to engage in broad-based public debates on finding solutions to the lingering crisis.

The Niger Delta Survey is one of NOI Polls’ strategic products designed to stimulate public debate among Nigerians, while strengthening dialogue between public sector officials, private corporations, and individual stakeholders in the oil and gas sector. It aims to address the information gap on the Niger Delta by providing robust statistical data on the views and opinions of the region’s inhabitants with respect to the pressing issues that affect their daily lives. Such a comprehensive pan-regional survey is the first of its kind in Nigeria.

NOI Polls works in partnership with Gallup Poll (USA), the world’s foremost opinion research company with 30 years of international expertise, in conducting all its surveys. NOI Polls and Gallup adopt scientifically robust techniques in conducting opinion surveys in Nigeria.

The population sample for the Niger Delta survey is comprised of 2,680 randomly selected Nigerians aged 15 and above who participated in structured face-to-face interviews. The interviews were conducted in September 2008 as part of the larger annual Nigeria Poll. The sample was carefully selected to obtain a representative coverage of the Niger Delta, with 1,000 respondents chosen from the region. The results were analyzed in totality, for all Nigerians, and disaggregated by geopolitical region. The Niger Delta survey results are valid within a statistical margin of error, also known as a 95 percent confidence interval. NOI Polls adopts an independent approach to conducting empirical research; thus the views and opinions of survey participants are reported without any political bias.