• Okonjo-Iweala calls for private-sector-led investment in critical minerals, agriculture, coastal economy
Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
The Niger Delta has received about $160 billion in federal allocations and development funding over the past 27 years, yet poverty and underdevelopment persist across the region, Chairman of Access Holdings and Coronation Group, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, has said.
His remarks came as Director-General of World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, called for private-sector-led investment in the Niger Delta, particularly in critical minerals, agriculture, and the coastal economy, to create jobs and improve living standards.
Aig-Imoukhuede, who delivered the keynote address at the 2026 Niger Delta Economic and Investment Summit in Port Harcourt, said the more important question was not how much money had accrued to the region, but what productive assets had been created with the resources.
He estimated that the nine Niger Delta states and their local governments had received the equivalent of about $140 billion in federal allocations since 1999, rising to approximately $160 billion over 27 years when resources channelled through the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) were included.
He said, “The question is no longer how much came to the Niger Delta. The question is, what stock of productive capital did this $160 billion leave behind?”
He stated that the region’s central economic challenge was its inability to convert resource wealth into productive capital, infrastructure, industrial capacity, competitive enterprises, and sustainable jobs.
According to him, the Niger Delta must move from a “rent-focused economy” to a productive economy, from fragmented public expenditure to integrated economic platforms, and from nine largely separate state economies to a more coherent regional economy.
Aig-Imoukhuede said the region could no longer rely solely on debates over derivation, revenue allocation, and federal intervention, stressing that distributive justice and economic development are not the same thing.
He advocated a durable Niger Delta Development and Investment Compact involving the nine states, the federal government, NDDC, private sector, communities, development institutions, and long-term capital.
The compact, he said, should focus on a limited number of regional priorities capable of producing measurable economic transformation.
Aig-Imoukhuede stated, “The Niger Delta has a conversion problem. Natural resources do not create prosperity by themselves. Natural resources create possibilities, but it is institutions that determine what happens to our possibilities and our dreams.”
He urged the region’s political, business, professional, traditional, academic and religious elites to accept responsibility for its development failures rather than blame government alone.
He said the Niger Delta could leverage its resource base to build institutions and financial assets capable of transforming the region, citing the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) as an example of what could have been achieved with a fraction of the resources available to the region.
In her contribution, Okonjo-Iweala called for a private-sector-led regeneration of the Niger Delta, warning that the region must urgently translate its vast natural resources and financial allocations into productive investments, jobs, and improved living standards.
Okonjo-Iweala said the region’s development challenges were unacceptable, given its enormous natural resource endowment and financial resources.
Okonjo-Iweala, in the goodwill message, said Niger Delta’s development statistics showed that urgent action was required.
She stated that the region, with a population of about 50 million, was home to roughly 24 million people classified as multi-dimensionally poor, while about 60 per cent of households lacked access to clean drinking water and 72 per cent lacked adequate sanitation facilities.
She urged the newly revived Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines and Agriculture to operate with private-sector discipline, measurable targets, and a strong focus on investment and job creation.
Okonjo-Iweala, who spoke via zoom, identified critical minerals, agriculture, and the coastal economy as three areas where the region could diversify beyond oil.
She said Niger Delta’s deposits of kaolin, silica, clay, and bentonite could support manufacturing and supply chains, while agriculture could generate higher-value processed products. Its extensive coastline and seaports, she added, could underpin shipping, fisheries, and aquaculture.
The WTO chief also urged businesses from the region to lead by example by investing locally, stating that their investments would demonstrate to external investors that the Niger Delta is open and safe for business.
Managing Director of NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, similarly challenged the region to look inward, saying its most valuable resource is its people.
Ogbuku advocated a common regional energy system and integrated rail network linking the nine states, stating that such infrastructure can stimulate industrialisation and attract investment.
Ogbuku also proposed the establishment of a Niger Delta think tank comprising leading professionals, bankers, entrepreneurs, and other influential people from the region to sustain and implement the summit’s resolutions.
Chairman NDCCITMA, Idaere Gogo Ogan, said the summit was designed to shift the conversation from “resources to productivity, from extraction to value, and from dependence to sustainable economic diversification”.
To the participants, Ogan said, “I thank you all for your presence, your commitment, and your confidence in our shared vision to tell the world that this Niger Delta region is now ready for business.”
Representing Abia State Governor Alex Otti, Director-General/CEO of Abia State Public-Private Partnership and Investment Promotion Office, Chinedum Chijioke, urged the summit organisers to move beyond communiqués and agree on measurable targets for security, infrastructure, land access, power supply, and ease of doing business.
Chijioke said, “What gets measured gets fixed,” warning that without clear responsibilities and timelines, the summit could become another talking shop.