Nigeria

Since the ending of military rule with the democratic elections in 1999, Nigeria has made some progress in adapting its governing mechanisms from a command to a consensual basis. Democratic and economic reforms, particularly at federal level, have helped to improve the country's investment climate and economic prospects through realistic efforts to consolidate the banking sector, control public expenditure and reduce public debt whilst continued efforts will be needed to curb corruption.

Broadening the scope of the Nigeria-EU dialogue

Nigeria subscribes firmly to the goals of the Africa-EU strategic partnership launched in Lisbon in December 2007. This commitment was emphasised at the Nigeria-EU Ministerial Troika Meetings in Ljubljana, Slovenia in May 2008 and in Prague in June 2009. The parties in Ljubljana and Prague agreed to intensify their political dialogue and cooperation and in Prague they adopted a strategy to enhance their relations ("The Nigeria-EU Joint Way Forward"). In addition to agreeing to coordinate their respective approaches to global and regional issues, the parties reaffirmed the importance of achieving the millennium development goals (MDG) in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, where over 64% of the population lives in extreme poverty (90 million people representing about 11% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa).

Goals of the reform process

There is currently no comprehensive development plan giving a clear view about the national reform process. Fragmented existing plans are framed in term of economic growth but the overriding goal is poverty reduction, both through the encouragement of a viable and competitive non-oil sector and the more effective utilisation of the oil revenues. This can be achieved only within a context of reasonable internal security and a sustained commitment on the part of the authorities towards the enforcement of the rule of law. To reinforce the process of reform towards a market economy and trade liberalisation, together with the contingent strengthening of the protection of human rights and the fight against corruption, it will be necessary to further enhance the capacity for more accountable governance at all tiers of government (federal, state and local), while at the same time enabling the justice and security apparatus to perform a more supportive role.

Poverty reduction strategy

Poverty reduction is ranked as the first of the four goals of the National Economic Empowerment & Development Strategy (NEEDS-2), whose target is to reduce poverty according to the conventional measure by 30% by 2011 in order to attain the MDG's by 2015. An important challenge for the Government will be to substantially increase Nigeria's electricity generating capacity over the next two decades and improve the national distribution. This programme, together with President's Seven Point Agenda, is concerned to ensure that the revenues accruing from the vast investments in the oil sector and in other parts of the economy are channelled more effectively towards improving the standard of living of the majority of the population.

Action on the Niger Delta

Associated with these efforts to promote good governance, is the determined effort by the Nigerian authorities to reduce violence and tension within the Niger Delta region and to alleviate the distressed human condition there, together with the amelioration of the environmental degradation in these States resulting from years of comparative neglect. The EU and Nigeria have agreed to strengthen their dialogue and to focus their cooperation notably on peace and security. The EC already has in place a series of interventions to improve the standard of living of the people of the Niger Delta and will continue and expand this provision in order to reinforce peaceful cooperation between communities and thus to support the Nigerian authorities in their peace keeping activities. In June 2009 President Yar 'Adua offered an amnesty programme for militants in the Niger Delta which could be a first step in the process of seeking solutions for the region. The programme seeks to disarm, educate and rehabilitate and reintegrate militants.

Concentration and harmonisation of EDF funding

As all the development assistance funding available is very modest by comparison with the federal budget (less than 1%), cooperation can best be achieved by concentrating support on enabling the authorities to make better use of their own resources, both by encouraging efficient public finance management and by the enhancement of the national policy dialogue.

The first element will assist the authorities to reduce corruption and to enhance the development impact of their expenditures. The second element will contribute to the protection of human rights through the encouragement of a continuous and constructive policy debate between the authorities and the non state actors (NSA), based on a shared understanding of their goals and constraints.

For maximum effectiveness, EC assistance will be concentrated also not only in terms of domains of action but also in terms of location. Accordingly, the EC will continue working with a limited number of focal States and local governments chosen for their proven commitment to reform, performance in public finance management and their record of service delivery.

The EC will enter into implementing arrangements with other donors and with the NSA in order both to maximise the effectiveness of its own expenditures and to foster greater harmonisation of approaches to development cooperation, particularly with Member States.

Finally, the initiatives to be financed under the 10th EDF in Nigeria will be publicised to the civil society and general public. An innovative strategy, based on a combination of support to local mass media and to cultural initiatives, will be developed to disseminate in Nigeria the messages and the values promoted by the EU-Nigeria cooperation such as the respect for human rights and basic freedoms, the values of democracy, good governance, and care for the environment.

Priority cooperation areas for the 10th ED

The Ljubljana and Prague meetings set out the principles of cooperation between Nigeria and the EU in close harmony with the strategic approach adopted by the Lisbon Action Plan. Four main avenues for development partnership are to be supported under the 10th EDF, namely (a) peace & security; (b) governance & human rights; (c) trade and regional integration and (d) selected key development issues as non-focal areas.

Whilst the maintenance of peace and security in the country is essential to even the most modest development initiatives, and thus will get receive support, the greater part of the funding resources will be devoted to the improvement of governance and the protection of human rights.

The importance of trade and regional integration to foster growth and to develop the competitiveness of the non oil sector is recognised as a third focal area. Nigeria is the predominant economy in the West Africa region and can play a key role in ECOWAS regional integration process. The EC will therefore support Nigeria in its role in ECOWAS, as well as support the development and implementation of its policies concerning: trade, ECOWAS trade integration, EPA and the need for diversification of Nigeria's economy as highlighted by the first effects of the financial and economic crisis started in 2008. As ECOWAS will benefit from a matching support under the 10th EDF Regional Indicative Programme, the NIP Nigeria and the RIP for West Africa will be fully aligned.

Among the non-focal areas, in addition to the continuation and extension of the 9th EDF immunisation and micro project programmes and the support to the NAO office, new collaborative approaches will be adopted towards environmental protection, climate change and related energy security issues together with scientific and technical cooperation and cultural cooperation. Enhanced cooperation is also envisaged across a range of media to encourage the dissemination of educational messages on development themes. This will contribute significantly to raising awareness amongst the general public of the progress being made on the development agenda. It may also contribute to embedding the values central to the EU-Nigeria relations with the broader population.