The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Niger Delta militancy

  • ‘Past leaders were deceitful in handling Boko Haram, Niger Delta crisis’

    A non-governmental organisation, Newstime International Company, Tuesday blamed past leadership in the country for showing gross incompetence and deceitfulness in handling the issues of Boko Haram insurgency and Niger Delta militancy.

    The group said the situation in Nigeria on the twin challenges of Boko Haram and Niger Delta militancy were a legacy of many years of problems.

    President of the group, Tony Oyatedor, said these at a briefing on Tuesday, in Abuja.

    Oyatedor said Boko Haram and Niger Delta militancy will move from bitter fighting to close friendship with the federal government through the help of Nigerians.

    He called on the Federal Government to make peace with aggrieved Nigerians to end killings and the continuous destruction of properties of innocent Nigerians.

    He said: “The situation in Nigeria on the twin problems is a legacy of many years of problems. It is not something that happened overnight. We are not going to be able to resolve it overnight with a snap of the finger.

    ‘’We must not take sides. Our work is not to condemn, but our work is to accomplish reconciliation and peace.

    ‘’The twin problems in Nigeria is a serious problem and no one is working to fix it, they only talk about it but Newstime has the solution and will roll up our sleeves to work and fix it for good.”

    Oyatedor said previous administrations in the country proved their priorities were to look the country instead of creating an enabling environment for peace, security and development.

    ‘’Niger Delta leaders always complain about the terrain in the area while, northerners and so many other countries are begging God to give them water. Niger Delta have water but the people make it sound like it is a disease to have water, instead to give thanks, praise and glory to God for a land flowing with oil, gas, milk and honey due to water and the terrain.

    ‘’People complain about unemployment, power outages, bad roads, lack of potable and clean water to drink and clean environment. Government should rather employ people to handle this infrastructural deficit properly,” he added.

  • ‘How to end Niger Delta militancy’

    A holistic approach as opposed to quick fixes will stem the tide of recurring agitation and militancy in the Niger Delta.

    It will also save the economy and environment continued damage by resurgent militancy, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Holistic Security Background Checks Limited, Don Okereke, has said.

    Okereke,  also a security analyst/consultant, told The Nation  that solving the crisis in the oil-rich region required an approach that involves carrying the local communities along rather than the current quick fixes that does not go beyond ‘settling’ militants or arm-wielding youths.

    “Recall that the YarAdua/Goodluck Jonathan administration only postponed the evil day with an Amnesty Programme, which was tantamount to treating the symptoms of a disease as against fixing its remote and immediate causes. As soon as the lucrative crude oil protection contracts, largesse to the militants came to an end, militancy resumed,” he said.

    While expressing concerns over the long-term environmental impacts of vandalism of oil pipelines and the unprecedented proliferation of sophisticated arms following the relapse to militancy in the N’ Delta, Okereke said in the interim, there is need to mop up illegal arms and explosive devices in the Niger Delta and in Nigeria in general, which are the oxygen that sustains militancy.

    The security expert also pointed out that a lot of Committees had been set up and recommendations made with regards to the crisis in the N’ Delta.

    “If the Federal Government is sincere about resolving the problem, all it needs to do is implement the recommendations of the Committees,” he said.

    Okereke also said the high level of youth unemployment in the N’ Delta and in Nigeria generally must be tackled. According to him, if the youths are engaged in profitable businesses or employments they will hardly have time or be willing to take to criminality or militancy. “Massive infrastructural development and citing of industries in that area are very key. This will create employment opportunities,’’ he added.

    Okereke, however, observed that the consistent and yet-to-be-resolved issues responsible for agitation in the Niger Delta relates to ‘resource control’ and a supposed lopsided control of crude oil blocks in favour of Northerners.

    “Not to be pessimistic, but as long as some of these knotty issues are unresolved, sporadic militancy and agitation will persist,” he argued.

    While noting that insinuations and suspicions are rife that the current administration is not amenable to proffering lasting solutions to the Niger Delta problem, he said there’s a lot of distrust for the current administration, especially in the Southsouth and Southeast part of the country.

  • Don’t use Bayelsa as launching pad for militancy – Dickson

    Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, on Wednesday warned miscreants against using the state as a launching pad for militancy and other criminal activities.

    Dickson, who condemned Monday’s brutal killing of three soldiers in Nembe local government area of the state, asked militants to leave Bayelsa alone.

    He said his administration would work with security operatives to smoke out the killers of the three soldiers from their hideout and bring them to justice.

    A statement signed by Dickson’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson-Markson, said the governor spoke in a live radio interview in Yenagoa, the state capital.

    He said: “The government will not condone a situation whereby the state would be used as a launching pad for violence and criminal activities.”

    He said the government would convene a meeting of the traditional rulers, local government council chairman and other major stakeholders in Nembe to deliberate on security issues in the area.

    He further asked traditional rulers to identify more with their people and liaise with security agencies to curb security challenges in their domains.

    The governor pointed out that government was collaborating with security operatives to unravel persons responsible for the attack on military personnel.

    He said: “I would like to use this opportunity to offer my condolences to the military commanders, colleagues and families of the soldiers who were murdered in cold blood in Nembe.

    “I would be summoning the traditional rulers in the area and the chairman of the council and after that I hope to have a critical meeting with other players in that area to discuss the security developments.

    “We condemn it in its totality and especially looking at it from the point of view that last year in the same location this kind of thing took place. We are very concerned about that.  Our duty is to work with the security forces to ensure that the perpetrators are followed up and hunted down.

    “They must face justice, and maybe from this incident we might also get a clue as to what happened last year and some other incidents of security breaches.”

  • Military action won’t quell Niger Delta militancy – Dickson

    Military action won’t quell Niger Delta militancy – Dickson

    The Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, on Wednesday maintained that deployment of military to Niger Delta would not quell militancy in the region.

    The military had threatened to use force if dialogue with the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) and other militant groups in the region fail to yield the desired results.

    But speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Dickson said the only way out of the crisis is dialogue and negotiations.

    The governor said the terrain and history of the Niger Delta region ‎had shown the futility of any military invasion.

    He said: “I have said that on the issues in the Niger Delta, the terrain, the historic nature of the issues and challenges are such that military solution may not be the way forward. ‎

    “For us who are products of political system and who are at this level, we have a duty to mobilise communal and local leadership. We also have a duty to support the work the intelligence and security agencies are doing and we have a duty to ensure that issues are better appreciated and we fill the communication gap.

    “And where there are issues those issues need be addressed. It is also our duty to network like I’m doing to ensure that problems that are identified as the main cause of some of these challenges are looked into.

    “The military solutions as I have always maintained is not the right option. We are hopeful that the ongoing discussions will yield the desired result. I have always been in support of negotiations and dialogue as the sustainable way forward.

    “Dialogue will bring out the issues and then we will all unite around these common issues to move our country forward.”