1 THE INQUIRY
1. Nigeria has the largest population of any country
in Africa and is the eighth most populous country in the world.[1]
Despite, or perhaps because of, oil wealth, poverty levels are
high with more than half of its 150 million people living on less
than $1 a day and one in five children dying before the age of
five. However, for reasons which this report will make clear,
the country receives relatively little development assistance
per capita (around $6) compared to the average for sub-Saharan
Africa (over $20). The Department for International Development's
(DFID's) programme in Nigeria has increased from £35 million
in 2003-04 to £120 million in 2009-10.[2]
2. The country's importance to West Africa and to
the continent as a whole, and the size of DFID's programme there
were the main reasons for us embarking on our inquiry, which we
first announced in January 2008. Our intention then was to visit
Nigeria in March of that year. Unfortunately, due to urgent business
in the House of Commons, we were not able to leave Westminster
and the visit had to be cancelled. Given the importance we place
on seeing DFID's work on the ground and speaking to the people
who are directly affected by it, we decided to postpone the inquiry
until we were able to make the visit.
3. We relaunched the inquiry in April this year.
We were able to make our visit to Nigeria in June and on our return
held three sessions of oral evidence at Westminster, with academics
and commentators, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and with
the DFID Minister (Gareth Thomas MP) and officials. We also received
a number of pieces of written evidence. We are grateful to all
those who contributed to our inquiry.
Our visit to Nigeria
4. We visited Nigeria from 10-18 June. We went first
to Lagos, then travelled north to Kano State and ended our visit
in Abuja. We met State and Federal Ministers and officials, NGOs,
other donors and a wide range of Nigerian people living in both
urban and rural settings. Our full visit programme is set out
as an Annex to this Report. Due to time constraints and security
considerations, we did not visit the Niger Delta region, but we
did receive evidence on the particular issues affecting the region
which informed the inquiry. We would like to express our thanks
to everyone we met in Nigeria for the contribution they made to
such an interesting and valuable visit, and particularly to the
DFID officials who arranged our programme.
Structure of the Report
5. In Chapter 2 we examine the context in which DFID
operates in Nigeria and how its country programme is structured.
Chapter 3 looks at provision of basic services, including health
and education. Chapter 4 analyses the challenges Nigeria faces
in relation to governance. In Chapter 5 we assess the impact of
oil wealth on Nigeria, how it might be better managed to benefit
the Nigerian people, and the causes of the conflict in the Niger
Delta. In the concluding chapter, we set out our views on DFID's
future engagement with Nigeria.
1 Growth and Employment in States Technical Annex,
April 2009, DFID Nigeria (not printed) Back
2
Ev 52-53 Back
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