The government of President Umaru Yar'Adua says it is serious about tackling the root causes of violence and poverty in Nigeria's troubled Niger Delta with a ‘master plan’ to develop the region and provide basic services.

Yar'Adua’s new budget proposal for 2008 commits 69 billion naira (US $566 million) to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for 2008, more than twice last year's federal budget allotment for the commission.

"[The Niger Delta will become] Africa's most prosperous, most peaceful and most pleasant region by 2020," according to Davies Okarevu of the NDDC, which is charged with implementing the master plan. Representatives from the commission met with representatves from the region in southeastern town of Calabar in mid-November.

In the next 15 years some US $50 billion will be spent by federal, state, and local governments, as well as oil companies and private foundations to improve the region's infrastructure, environment and economy. The plan is based on three five-year phases which include specific projects to build roads, sanitation systems and support businesses.

This would be a transformation for a region where currently seven out of 10 people lack basic amenities.

Since oil was discovered in the Niger Delta in 1956 the region has been the seat of the nation's massive wealth, yet the more than 1,500 communities that have become host to oil facilities are some of the poorest in the country. Many are crippled by oil spills and other environmental problems.

Two decades of frustration have spawned an array of militant groups who claim to be fighting for the welfare of the region's 31.2 million inhabitants. Attacks on oil facilities and the kidnapping of oil workers have slowed oil production, costing multi-national companies and the Nigerian government billions of dollars in revenue.

In recent weeks one of the leading militant groups, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), has stepped up attacks on installations in the industry with the aim of deterring investors. "Our strategy is to nibble continuously on the oil industry until they are crippled,” MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo, explained by e-mail.

"Our wealth should be used to develop and not oppress us," he said.

Same plan, different approach

The current master plan is the fifth attempt since Nigeria's independence in 1960 to tackle poverty in the Niger Delta region. The former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, created the NDDC in 2001 after a three-year survey and research the federal government adopted a 'master plan' in 2004.

The current plan is not fundamentally different, but since his inauguration in May President Yar'Adua has pursued a policy of transparency and accountability and he has impressed some activists in the region.

"The new administration appears to be very committed -- more than Obasanjo – and, if they make an effort, I believe they will deliver," said Paul Ihediwanma, executive director of the International Center for Youth Development in Umuahia, Abia State.

Others remain cautious. "We're all just watching," said Sofiri Joab-Peterside, a research fellow at the Centre for Advanced Social Science in Port Harcourt. "It's about the level of sincerity in implementation."

Previous plans fell victim to politics, said Willie Okowa a lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt. "One of the key problems is that most of the implementation is left for the authorities other than the NDDC," he told IRIN. Some 83 percent of spending and operations comes from local, state and federal governments who have failed to live up to their promises in the past. "Forcing implementation is very difficult. The NDDC cannot compel the state government [to comply]," Okowa said.

In October, NDDC managing director Timi Alaibe alleged that since 2001 the government and oil companies have failed to release 224 billion naira (about $1.8 billion) in funding.

But for Ledum Mitee, president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, the NDDC is part of the problem, often awarding contracts to cronies. Stories of 'white elephant' in the Niger Delta abound, including schools without desks, hospitals without medicine and road projects left half-completed.

"You have an organisation that is supposed to be interventionist that is now loaded by all these structures which are calculated to take from one hand and give to the other hand," Mitee said in an address to the Niger Delta Stakeholders.

On 4 November, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated a committee to ensure that projects and funding are not duplicated and money is not wasted. The vice president is also leading a host of negotiations with community and militant leaders ahead of a Niger Delta summit intended for later this year.