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Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has requested parliamentary
approval of a budget for 2010 of Naira 237 billion ($1.6 billion) for the
agency responsible for the development of the oil-rich Niger Delta, state
media reported Wednesday.

The budget is some 84% higher than the Naira 128.9 billion voted in 2009
for the Niger Delta Development Commission, even though not all the money was
released to the agency.

The President submitted the budget request to the lower chamber House of
Representatives, state radio reported.

The fund for the budget would come from contributions by the Federal
Government, Nigeria's 36 states and oil companies, which would contribute 3%
of their capital spending.

Jonathan appealed to lawmakers to speed up approval of the budget to
enable the NDDC carry out projects in the restive Niger Delta. The NDDC
was created in 2000 to provide infrastructure in the impoverished region.
Federal Government was to contribute 15% of oil revenues towards its funding.

But the Commission has been hit with crisis recently including
in-fighting among the members of its board over contract awards and poor
funding.

Locals have linked the situation in the NDDC to the stalled development
in the Niger Delta, a major cause of disruption and ill feeling in the region,
where the bulk of Nigeria's oil is produced.
--Staff, newsdesk@platts.com

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