The Niger Delta is a place of frustrated expectations and deep rooted mistrust where widespread restiveness frequently erupts in violence. Long years of neglect and conflict have fostered a siege mentality, especially among youths who feel they are condemned to future without hope, and see conflict, violence, theft and kidnapping as a strategic escape.  The revenues from oil and gas exploration available for development actions carry the promise of rapid socio-economic transformation. In reality, the Niger Delta is suffering from administrative neglect, crumbling social infrastructure and social services, high unemployment, social deprivation, poverty, and endemic conflict.

MPP9 is a development programme embedded in the financing policy of the European Development Fund (EDF). Micro projects were initially formulated as a development instrument in the Lomé convention of 1975 regulating the development cooperation between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries (ACP), of which Nigeria is a partner. Reviews of the EU-ACP cooperation were negotiated every five years and the micro projects instrument was continuously improved incorporating the experience gained in the range of development conditions of ACP countries. As a follow-up the Cotonou Agreement was formulated in the year 2000, where Micro projects and decentralization instruments were linked.  Article 70 of the Cotonou Agreement refers to the proposed changes and states that they are in continuation of the Lomé convention a response to the needs of local communities. This cooperation enables more effectively the mobilisation of capacities, innovative methods and resource management of decentralised partners such as local governments and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).