Economic Development, Urban Growth
and Impacts: Issues of Livelihood,
Vulnerability and Sustainability in Yenagoa
Metropolitan Area, Bayelsa State, Nigeria
By
Meshach Owhotemu Ojile
Department of Geography and Environmental Management,
Faculty of Social Sciences, Niger Delta University,
Bayelsa State, Nigeria
Presentation Outline
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
General Introduction
Urbanization process and pattern in Nigeria and Niger Delta
Region
Geography/Physical Setting of Niger Delta/Bayelsa State
Economic Development, Population Growth and Urbanization in
Bayelsa State
Urbanization in Yenagoa and Impact
Livelihood and Vulnerability Issues
Local Economy in the Yenagoa Metropolitan Area
Role of Impact Assessment in Development Planning and Project
Implementation
Conclusion and Way Forward
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Economic Development, Population Growth
and Urbanization
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The twentieth century acknowledged to be an unprecedented century of
population growth, economic development and environmental change.
From 1900 to 2000, world population grew from 1.6 billion to 6.1 billion persons,
but, while world population increased close to 4 times, world real gross domestic
product (GDP) increased 20 to 40 times, allowing the world not only to sustain a
fourfold population increase but also to do so at vastly higher standards of living.
Nevertheless, this rapid population growth and economic growth occurred
unevenly throughout the world and not all regions have benefited equally from
economic growth.
Moreover, population growth and economic development occurred
simultaneously with increasingly unsustainable utilization of Earth’s
physical environment.
The city has long been recognized as the central factor in social and economic
development. However, rapid urbanization, the concentration of the urban
population in large cities, the sprawl of cities into wider geographical areas and
the rapid growth of mega-cities are among the most significant transformations
of human settlements.
Negative aspects of urbanization recognized; the need to effectively manage rapid
population growth, urbanization and an unsustainable level of consumption and
production that was to generate social fragmentation and environmental
degradation in urban areas atPaper
a scale
never
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Urbanization in Nigeria, Niger Delta
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Urbanization, as a complex process of social change is progressing unabated
in most of the developing countries including Nigeria (5.4% annually).
It is characterized by the creation of large urban centres, either by migration,
temporary and/or permanent settlements of workers, or workers-to-be (job
seekers) in towns.
There has been a stupendous growth in the population of Nigeria, including
its many parts in the past 20 years.
In 1991, the country had a population of 89 million with over 36% in urban
areas and by the recently released 2006 National Census results; the country
has witnessed a rapid increase in its population to 140 million.
Similarly, from a total population of 20.5 million in 1991, the Niger Delta
region’s population also witnessed a tremendous growth from its 1991 figure
to 31,224,577, (2006), constituting about 22.3% of the national population.
Although a higher proportion of the population live in the rural areas, larger
and medium-sized settlements have continued to be on the increase owing to
their economic advantages; thus, the region has continued to witness rapid
urbanization.
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Geography and Physical Setting of Niger
Delta visa-vis Bayelsa State
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The Niger Delta region is defined as comprising the area covered by the natural delta of the Niger River
and the areas to the east and west of Nigeria, which also produce oil.. Its approximate northern
boundaries are located close to the bifurcation of the Niger River at Aboh, while the western and
eastern boundaries are around the Benin River and the Imo River, respectively. The area covers
approximately 25,900 square kilometres.
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The broader Niger Delta region, which includes all oil producing areas and others considered relevant
for reasons of administrative convenience, political expedience and development objectives, extends the
land area to 75,000 square kilometers.
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The natural delta of the Niger River is a vast sedimentary basin. The deltaic deposits comprise mainly
medium to coarse unconsolidated sands, silt, clay, shale and peat. The delta is mostly a flat, low-lying
swampy basin criss-crossed by a dense network of meandering rivers and creeks. There are
four broad ecological zones in the region defined by both relief and hydrological
characteristics. These are, from the coast inland, the coastal sandy barrier ridge zone, the
mangrove swamp zone, the freshwater swamp zone and the lowland rainforest zone.
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Geographically, Bayelsa State is centrally located in the heart of the Niger Delta. It is dissected centrally
by Long. 60 E and Lat. 40 30’’ N. With a landmass of 21,100 sq. km, most of which is in fact water or
wetland, it has a coastline measuring about 185km through which many rivers issue into the Atlantic
Ocean, namely, the Ramos, Dodo, Pennington, Digatoru, Middleton, Koluama, Fishtown, Sangana, the
Nun, Brass, St. Nicholas, and Santa Barbara.
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Location of Niger Delta
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Location of Bayelsa State within
Niger Delta
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Yenagoa Metropolitan Area
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Yenagoa lies astride the confluence of two rivers around which it was founded; Ekole Creek (a
tributary of the Nun River) and Epie Creek.
Yenagoa metropolitan area encompasses about fifty (50) settlements and straddles the four local
government areas of Yenagoa, Ogbia, Kolokuma/Opokuma and Southern Ijaw with a
planning area of about 15km radius.
The entire area is approximately 70,700 hectares (176,750 acres) and having within it three river
courses namely; the Nun River, Ekole Creek and Epie Creek. The immediate planning area
however, falls largely within a 5km radius from the centre of the modern day Yenagoa, and
encompasses more than 15 settlements covering an area of 7,850 hectares (19,625 acres) and
having within it the two water courses of Ekole and Epie Creeks.
Yenagoa situates on a low plain topography, and a uniquely complex ecological area, largely of
wetlands and back swamps susceptible to seasonal flooding.
Development efforts must therefore, give cognizance to this combination of natural barriers,
seasonal flooding, wetlands, poorly drained soils and soils of low bearing capacities, as well as
petroleum artifacts including pipelines.
Up till now, the town conforms to a linear settlement pattern, composed as it were of many
villages, stretching principally along the old Ahoada-Yenagoa primary distributor road.
The built-up residential area accounts for about 60 ha, with government areas constituting
another 140 ha, private farms, forests and marshland are located to the north and southwest of
the area, with plantation agriculture (lowland oil-palm estate) of about 1000 ha under cultivation
the major land use.
Water bodies of the Epie Creek, a tributary of Ekole Creek, which in turn is a tributary of the
Nun River, lend a unique and emphatic character to the Yenagoa capital territory.
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Administrative Setup of Bayelsa
State
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The Yenagoa Metropolitan Area
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Economic Development, Population Growth
and Urbanization in Bayelsa State
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Population growth, size and distribution; economic growth and industrial development; and prevailing patterns
of natural resource use, including energy consumption, deforestation and land use and water use are the three
major interdependent factors that cause changes in natural environments.
These three major factors currently interacting in the Niger Delta in general and Bayelsa State in particular,
attributable to the rapid economic growth in the oil and gas industries and other industrial development largely
allied to the petroleum industry.
Before now, the people of Yenagoa depend largely on the state government service employment, for there were
relatively few private sector job opportunities. Farming and fishing related activities provided the major source of
income for most residents located within the surrounding settlements.
In fact, before Yenagoa acquired the status of a state capital, farmers and fishermen accounted for over 70
percent of the labour force in the area.
The trends have however, changed; nearly 48 percent of the labour force are now engaged in fishing and farming
related activities; a change occasioned by the rise in public service labour force which accounted for over 25
percent of the Yenagoa’s labour force while commercial activities account for roughly 15 percent of the entire
labour force.
The Bayelsa Palm Estate is the only major industrial establishment in the area, supplemented by traditional small
scale industries including saw mills, printing workshops, cassava processing outfits and sand mining activities
along the Ekole and Epie Creeks.
The highest proportion of employment is still in government, closely followed by banking while the construction
industry which does not provide permanent employment, perhaps is the third largest employer of labour within
the Yenagoa metropolitan area.
Economic development has therefore, included growth in the public sector, some growth in service sector,
particularly banking and with little in the manufacturing sub-sector.
To make the State and the capital city more attractive and investment-friendly, much development pressure has
been placed on the fragile ecology of the Yenagoa metropolitan area.
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Urbanization in Yenagoa and Impact
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Bayelsa State is one of the least developed States in Nigeria; the comparatively low-level of development
is traceable to the settlement pattern and ecological constraints imposed by nature.
The State is made up of numerous villages and rural settlements that are scattered and isolated from
each other; about 25% of the State’s population lives in "Urban villages“.
Out of the six hundred and ninety six (696) settlements enumerated for Bayelsa State, eighty nine (89)
settlements or 12.8% have population of 5000 persons and above and only about 4 or 0.57 percent
recorded a population of 20,000 and above.
Using population as a qualifier, only four settlements may actually be described as urban in so far as they
have populations of 20,000 or more.
In 1991, only 280,280 out of a population of 1,121,493 lived in urban centres, hence the very low
urbanization index of 0.25. The urbanisation index was only very high in two or three localities; Nembe
(0.47) and Yenagoa (0.43).
But, since the creation of Bayelsa State in 1996 and Yenagoa was made the capital territory, population
increase has been very rapid; in fact, about 30,000 people moved into Bayelsa and mostly Yenagoa
between 1996 and 2000 alone.
The influx of people into the communities and settlements which situate close to the Yenagoa
metropolis has been continuous; in 1991, the communities that lie within the 5km immediate action area
of the metropolis had a population of 49,654. Yenagoa’s population is about triple the original size; a
mid-2001 population of 65,637 people was projected for the immediate 5km radius of the metropolis
and well over 200,000 total persons in the total planning area (15km radius)
Well over 100,000 to 1 million people now live within the immediate 5km-15kmYenagoa metropolitan
area.
Urbanization is usually associated with both social phenomena- ranging from aspects of population
distribution to diffusion of urban lifestyles – and the physical transformation of landscapes.
Land expropriation from the proximate hinterlands, loss of agricultural lands for urban growth, poor
waste management, and intensive and extensive urban floods are some of the environmental effects of
the increased urbanization in the region.
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Livelihood and Vulnerability Issues
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Urbanization, the conversion of other types of land to uses associated with growth of populations and economy, is a main
type of land use and land cover change in human history. It has a great impact on the livelihood of people who were once
accustomed to a way of living appropriately described as rural and agrarian.
In the Niger Delta, land use and land cover patterns have undergone a fundamental change due to accelerated economic
development under a democratic dispensation since 1999. Urban growth has been and continues to be speeded up, and
extreme stress to both the proximate environment (rural fringes) and living conditions of the people have occurred. This is
particularly true in the Yenagoa metropolitan area where massive rainforests and agricultural lands are disappearing each
year, converting to urban or related uses.
The UNDP first Human Development Index (HDI) calculated for Nigerian states, in 1996 indicated then that, the Niger
Delta states of Bendel (now Delta and Edo states), Rivers (now Bayelsa and Rivers) and Cross River (now Akwa Ibom and
Cross River) obtained the highest HDI scores in Nigeria, outperforming even Lagos State. The HDI scores were 0.631 for
Bendel, 0.539 for Rivers and 0.513 for Cross River. On the basis of their HDI scores, these three states “would easily have
qualified in 1990 as middle human development countries occupying positions 79th, 91st and 96th respectively in the
World.”
In Bayelsa State, one of the major oil-producing states, the HDI ranged between 0.255 and 0.422. This is extremely low
compared to the neighbouring Rivers and Delta states. It is a clear indication of unequal development, often because local
governments are not using resources generated from oil to improve the lives of local inhabitants.
The human poverty index, compared with the HDI, focuses on more fundamental parameters of human development. The
average HPI-1 for the Niger Delta states is 28.8 per cent for 2005, compared with 38.8 per cent for Nigeria as a whole. This
again means that the Niger Delta states have outperformed the rest of the country. But the Niger Delta average HPI-1 of
28.8 per cent is far worse than that of Saudi Arabia (14.9 per cent), Indonesia (17.8 per cent) or Venezuela (8.8 per cent).
The best performing states in the Niger Delta are Delta at 22.4 per cent and Edo at 23.4 per cent, while the worst
performers are Ondo at 35.4 per cent and Bayelsa at 33.8per cent.
Local HDIs are comparatively lower than state rankings; this is partly a result of using internally generated revenue as a
surrogate for GDP in the calculation of the HDI.
Nine of the 11 best performing localities are in Delta State. Out of 19 local government areas with an HDI of 0.5 and
above, 14 are in Delta State. Two are in Rivers State and one each are in Cross River, Abia and Akwa Ibom states. Six out of
the eight local government areas in Bayelsa State were among the worst performing localities. Six out of the eight
local government areas in Bayelsa State scored less than 0.3 on the HDI, partly as a result of the difficult terrain
and/or neglect from different tiers of government.
Bayelsa State localities, with one exception, has low HDI scores.
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Local economy in the Yenagoa metropolitan area
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Results of a recent study of some oil bearing communities subsumed within the greater Yenagoa metropolitan area, indicated
that farming is still the occupation that engages the highest number of the adult population, male and female in the Epie-Atissa
villages.
About 43.2% of the population are engaged in farming while another one-fifth (20.5%) does some fishing. About 13% of the
population is in the civil service, and barely 7% were found engaged in trading as an income generating activity
Multiple occupations are however common; livelihood strategies involve an admixture of economic activities to make ends
meet.
Within the surveyed ‘’urban villages’’, incomes were found to be both varied and meager; about 18.6% of the people earn less
than N10,000 00 per annum ($73) while over a third (34.8%) also earns incomes above N80,000 ($583.9).
Vulnerability Analysis
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The term ‘’vulnerability’’ refers to the implications of disasters or natural hazards on physical, social and economic aspects.
Watts and Bohle (1993), defined ‘’vulnerability’’ in terms of exposure, capacity and potentiality. Accordingly, the prescriptive and normative
response to vulnerability is to reduce exposure, enhance coping capacity, strengthen recovery potential and bolster damage control (i.e. minimize
destructive consequences) via private and public means’’.
The population is exposed to three broad types of vulnerability with regard to the Yenagoa urbanization process: biophysical,
socio-political and services delivery systems vulnerabilities.
Observed bio-physical vulnerability involves loss of farmlands and fishing grounds and biodiversity occasioned by
urban land-take and deforestation; the decay in community governance, atomization of communities and associated
conflicts characterize the socio-political vulnerability while the pressure on infrastructures/social amenities
(educational, health and transportation) arising from increased population in the settlements is identified as
vulnerability related to services delivery systems.
Women headed households and the poor are most vulnerable to the exposure of urbanization. Households headed by women
(as widows, co-wife, separated, divorced etc) are further disadvantaged in the urban growth process due to their poor economic
status. Many of the surveyed households in the Yenagoa area are headed by women and actually felt more concerned about
what is happening; loss of agricultural lands and the urban expansion (land conversion) process.
About 70 percent of the labour force in Yenagoa was made up of farmers and fishermen before 1996. But between 1996 and
2000, a serious structural change in the economy of the area was already being observed; nearly 48.4 percent were still engaged
in fishing and farming but more people now worked in the public service (25 percent) and engaged in trading (14.8 percent).
In terms of vulnerabilities, about 72 percent of those still dependent upon the land and waters in the area are women. More
women in the communities are also dependent upon trading (20.6 percent) for their livelihood
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Role of Impact Assessment in Development
Planning and Project Implementation
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The environmental, legislative, political, socio-economic and technological issues which shaped the environmental
management policies and institutions in the US and other more developed countries fundamentally different in nature
from those prevailing in less developed or developing countries like Nigeria.
The major environmental challenges facing us are underpinned by the threat to the ecosystems on which the people
depend, population pressure, land and water degradation, deforestation, biodiversity loss and other forms of
environmental stress.
End result is that environmental degradation has become a serious threat to economic development; environmental
problems revolve around the need to alleviate poverty, provide improved and equitable standards of living,
quality of life and health conditions for the present and future generations. Adequate and nutritious food, clean
water, energy and good governance are other serious needs.
Yenagoa, the capital territory of Bayelsa State situates in a fragile and sensitive terrain, as it is known for the entire Niger
Delta; the more reason why development planning and projects implementation should be accompanied by detailed
impact assessments so as to provide mitigation for anticipated adverse impacts.
Within the Yenagoa metropolitan area alone, over twenty (20) projects, seven (7) of which stand out as major projects
should ideally have had guided inputs of environmental planning, otherwise their sustainability and impacts on the
beneficiaries become questionable.
The Ekole Creek Bridge at Swali-Yenagoa to Oporoma; the new dual carriage Gateway road off the East-West Road to
terminate at new Government House, including dualization 500m to either side of the centre of the east-west road; the
Bayelsa State Government Tower Hotels and International Centre (a 17 storey edifice with a 5,000 sitting capacity);
Bayelsa State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure Yard, requiring huge land acquisition and sand filling; the Yenagoa
main water works including the reticulation network, 15 internal roads of different lengths and widths are currently under
construction within the Yenagoa metropolitan area alone. None of these projects had environmental assessment (EA)
report.
The socio-environmental consequences of this oversight are better imagined than realized, e.g. a 30km dual carriage road
linking the state capital started and constructed without a feasibility study has now placed surrounding settlements at the
mercy of the elements.
The road traverses several settlements which are sandwiched between the Epie Creek and a seasonally flooded swamp
forest; because project was never accompanied by environmental assessment and mitigation measures, drainage channels
were not provided in the design and hence not available to carry storm-water away from the road and the settlements.
Consequences are that during the wet season, floodwaters inundate these settlements, movement is hampered and
personal property is at risk of damage. Also,
houses
are close
to the road,
periodic markets are held by the road sides,
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while parking space is non-existent. The settlers are therefore, exposed to the hazard of road accidents.
Several Infrastructural Development Projects in Yengoa
without Environmental Management Guidance
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Deforestation, Landscape Modification and
Environmental Effects
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Conclusion and Way Forward
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The Niger Delta of Nigeria is the richest part of the country in terms of natural resource endowment
(biodiversity and mineral deposit). Ironically, in spite of the Delta’s endowment, and its immense potential for
economic growth and sustainable development, the region cannot be said to have achieved the desired
economic growth and development.
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Since the inception of democratic governance in 1999 however, some measure of economic development has
been witnessed in Nigeria in general and the Niger Delta in particular. It is worrisome though that the
development paradigm being pursued may not be the best; there is the over-concentration of economic and
developmental activities in state capitals at the expense of a regional or state-wide approach.
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The pattern and speed of economic development in the urban-administrative centres in the region is expected
to continue into the foreseeable future. But so long as the spatial distribution of development projects and
infrastructures are skewed in favour of the urban centres, causing an increasing rural-urban population
migration and hence rapid urbanization in the process, this pattern of resource use can effect environmental
changes, and could be critical to the overall sustainable development and management of available resources in
the Niger Delta.
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On account of its socio-ecological characteristics, policy makers and governments in the Niger Delta, are
expected to carry out intervention programmes/development projects with utmost consideration for the
environment, incorporating the ingredients and advice of impact assessments.
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Available institutional and regulatory framework provides for development projects of different categories in
Nigeria to be subjected to the full process of environmental impact assessment (EIA). So far, Government
in the Niger Delta States have continued to embark on several urban infrastructural projects ranging from
transportation (road construction), housing development, energy and commercial/industrial developments,
without proper planning and impact assessment.
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Conclusion and Recommendations Cont’d.
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This oversight has negative effects which are observably beginning to manifest; frequent and extensive
flooding is now becoming rampart in the urban areas (arising from landscape modifications), while wanton
deforestation on account of urban growth is causing a rapid rate of biodiversity loss. Also, the loss of
agricultural lands in these urban fringes is causing economic vulnerabilities.
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Principle 17 of the 1992 Rio Declaration states the following commitment to Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA): ‘’Environmental Impact Assessment as a national instrument shall be undertaken for proposed
development activities that are likely to have significant adverse effects on the environment and are subject to the decision of a
competent national authority’’ (Agenda 21). Whether one is using this Rio principle for applying environmental
assessment, the EIA Act No. 86 of 1992 (Nigeria) or any one of a number of international agreements
relating to environmental assessment, the usefulness of EA cannot be overemphasized.
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Environmental assessment initiated during the early stages of project design can help decision makers
understand the interaction of natural and constructed systems. It is unarguable that most damaging negative
effects on the ecosystem can result from unguided human activity such as road construction and poorly
planned urban expansion (development). To enhance environmental protection, the following are
recommended: (i) environmental assessments are to be carried out internally and/or externally for all
planned programmes and projects well in advance of implementation, (ii) urban environmental management
issues must be given adequate attention, (iii) environmental education for both policy makers (government
officials) and the led, (iv) environmental regulatory framework and authorities must be part and parcel of
development efforts, being consulted and offering the much needed guidance and supervision, (v)
organizations charged with urban development should employ personnel with knowledge of environmental
management to provide needed guidance/supervision, (vi) and ecosystem protection support.
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