The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Niger-Delta

  • Bayelsa ANA seeks better image for Niger Delta

    Bayelsa ANA seeks better image for Niger Delta

    The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Bayelsa State chapter is not happy with the current image of the Niger Delta region. The region wears the toga of violence, militancy, oil-related and maritime crimes.

    But ANA has insisted that there are good sides of the region. The association recently called on stakeholders across the country to see the good sides and refrain from creating the impression that Niger Delta is volatile and unsafe for developmental activities.

    The Chairman of the association, Mr. Michael Afenfia, spoke at the grand finale of the ANA/Yusuf Ali Creative Writing Competition held recently in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital.

    He lamented that only the negative things that happen in the Niger Delta region dominate headlines across the country while the giant strides attained by youths from the region were relegated to the backgrounds. According to him nobody has stopped to look at the good things some Niger Delta youths engage themselves in.

    He said: “Just listening to news this morning, it seemed that it is a season of violence in this part of the country. It is either a story of kidnapping here or bombing there and it seems like the only news that comes out of the Niger Delta is about violence, sometimes being carried out by young people.

    “But here today we have come to showcase young Bayelsans who are doing great things, who have decided to shun violence, not just tacitly but actually doing something to promote the good things that can come out of our region”.

    The event was a literary competition of creative writing. Youths from Bayelsa State were asked to write the final chapter of the book, ‘A man of the people’, written by Chinua Achebe. An entry submitted by one of the youths, Mr. Chibuzor Darlington won the competition.

    Highlighting the event, Afenfia said: “A couple of weeks back we had a creative writing competition for students in tertiary institutions across Bayelsa state and today we are proud to announce to you that we now have a winner.

    “The competition is about writing a final chapter of a very popular book, titled ‘A man of the people’ by Chinua Achebe.

    “Today we are proud to say that one Mr. Chibuzor Darlington came first but interestingly I was amazed by the kind of work these students did. Going throught their scripts, I had that confidence that there are young ones that can fill the gap of great writers like Elechi Amadi and Gabriel Okara.”

    The winner went home with N15,000 cash and a smart phone, while the first and second runner ups went home with N15,000 and N10,000 respectively.

  • How Buhari can resolve Niger Delta crisis – Ijaw youths

    Ijaw youths on Thursday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to create economic engagements in the Niger Delta region as the most sustainable way of resolving the persistent crisis in the area.

    The youths under their umbrella body, Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, said any discussion with stakeholders involving sharing of money without stimulating the economy of the region would be a waste of time.

    The IYC President, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, who spoke in Yenagoa, reeled out some key projects which when undertaken would calm frayed nerves in the region.

    One of the key economic projects capable of changing the fortunes of the region, according to Eradiri, is the Brass Fertilizer Project in Bayelsa State.

    He appealed to Buhari to approve the project and direct the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to fund it the same way the apex bank is providing financial support to the Dangote’s refinery project.

    He said the fertilizer project was designed to generate 12,000 jobs and create commercial traffic in the region.

    He said the Federal Government should also reverse its decision on the Maritime University at Gbaramatu in Delta State.

    He noted that it was cheaper to solve the problems of the region through economic engagements than through military operations like the ongoing Operation Crocodile Smile.

  • Air Force to deploy more planes in Niger Delta

    Air Force to deploy more planes in Niger Delta

    The Nigeria Air Force (NAF) has concluded plans to deploy more personnel in the Niger Delta as part of plans to discourage militancy and other forms of internal security challenges in the region.

    Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Abubakar Sadique said this in Yenagoa while on operational visit to NAF Mobility Command.

    The planned deployment is aimed at strengthening the existing NAF manpower disposition, especially in Bayelsa State, and to enhance the NAF involvement in OPERATION DELTA SAFE.

    According to the Air chief,  new facilities were put in place to cater for accommodation and welfare needs of personnel. These include: construction of new blocks of accommodation for officers and men, office accommodation, airmen mess, and provost squadron.

    Two of the airmen’s block of accommodation were named after Corporal Omaka VI and Aircraftman Ofonih EF,  who were both killed in Bosso, Niger State during an Internal Security Operation.

    Air Vice Marshal Larry Koinyan (retired) inaugurated the new projects .

    Speaking at the ceremony, AVM Koinyan applauded NAF personnel for its courage and success at ensuring peace and stability across the country.

    He called on Bayelsans to partner the Federal Government in providing holistic solutions to problems of the Niger Delta.

    Earlier, the CAS visited Governor Henry Seriake Disckson, who said “his administration is ready to partner the NAF and other security agencies because the government of Bayelsa understands the importance of security and the need for the state to be safe for economic prosperity”.

    The governor promised that his government would partner the NAF to build NAF primary and secondary schools to enable Bayelsans benefit from the quality education provided by NAF schools.

     

  • Militants threaten to attack soldiers in Niger Delta

    A group, Niger Delta Cleansers (NDC), has threatened to attack more soldiers in the region if the federal government does not withdraw them from the creeks in the next 14 days.

    Its spokesman, Col Fikenibai Miesin, in a statement said the militants will launch ‘Operation Hurricane’ to face soldiers deployed in the region.

    Miesin condemned the ‘Operation Crocodile Smile’ launched by the federal government even after most militants have embraced the ongoing dialogue process in the region.

    The statement reads: “The Niger Delta cleansers is unhappy with  the federal government for deploying soldiers in some Niger Delta communities under the operational code “Operation Crocodile Smile at a time dialogue is seeing the light of day

    “We call on the federal government to immediately withdraw all soldiers deployed in the Niger Delta communities.

    “Because of this we have perfected plans to launch ‘Operation Hurricane’ to combat government forces. We are giving them two weeks to withdraw the soldiers or face attacks.”

  • Niger Delta and PMB’s diplomacy

    The tension and uncertainty in the Niger Delta caused by recent violent attacks against oil installations and facilities in the area by resurgent militancy has created doubts about the diplomacy and peace-making ability of President Muhammadu Buhari. In the minds of some people mostly detractors of the President and even ordinary Nigerians whose views are coloured by the prevailing and excruciating hardship in the country, the President is seen as something of a war-monger. This however, is far from the truth.

    President Buhari’s attitude, posturing and utterances about the Niger Delta situation is affected by the fact that as a lover of Nigeria, who is pained by the sorry state of the nation, the anti- corruption crusader finds it difficult to make the link between any form of agitation for restitution for wrongs done any group, with the destruction and damage of national infrastructure especially those that benefit everyone let alone, infrastructure and national property sited in those parts of the country from where the agitations are coming.

    Yet another reason why PMB is perhaps piqued with the militants and for which reason, he loses his cool, is because as a young man, he was a participant in a brutal civil war that led to the death of several thousands of Nigerians and many years after, some people are taking steps that could lead to a repeat of that experience. Happily, there are several voices of caution coming from Nigerians of all walks of life prescribing and urging restraint on all sides to the Niger Delta problem and demanding for dialogue.

    This writer would like to appeal to our fellow country people in the creeks of the Niger Delta, to give peace a chance and not further compound the present economic downturn that has hit Nigeria hard with a recession. No doubt, the Niger Delta and indeed other parts of Nigeria has not been fairly treated over the years by successive governments but the way to go is not to make prosperity and governance impossible through violence and confrontation with the government. It should be noted that the problems of neglect affecting the Niger Delta today, strictly speaking, is not PMB’s doing, but the summation of poor and irresponsible governance over the years. PMB is now at the receiving end of demands for restitution because governance and government is a continuum; the onus is on the government of the moment to be held responsible. Nonetheless, restitution and justice in our society cannot come overnight and there is not so much a government, any government can do in the short space of a year and a few months of a four-year mandate! Thus the best approach is peace and dialogue and the willingness to allow a spirit of give and take.

    On the side of the government however, it is important that the latter eschews sending uncertain and ambiguous signals as well as make utterances that do not promote trust, confidence and the foundation for fruitful dialogue. One expects the body language of President Buhari on the Niger Delta issue and the agitation by separatists in the South-east to be one that shows that the President believes in the unity of Nigeria and is prepared as leader of the nation, to deploy his best endeavours to build consensus and defeat the pull of centrifugalism in the polity.

    This writer challenges the President who clearly is a passionate nationalist to employ and deploy the body language that is changing the ethics and values of Nigerians in the fight against corruption and in his diplomatic endeavours to apply to domestic issues so that the unity of the country will be embedded in the hearts and minds of Nigerians and not something that depends on threats and the ability of the Nigerian Army to enforce. Such unity cannot stand and would be tenuous at best. Being an elderly and wise man, the President can do this and score excellent results the way he has been able to charm the international community to buy into his anti-corruption campaign and desire to elevate and diversify the nation’s economy away from oil.

    The Niger Delta problem cannot be resolved by military action. Recently,   retired Colonel Abubakar Umar was on point on this. Of course it is right for the President to say that if the militants currently engaged in economic sabotage fail to embrace peace, the government would have no option but to use violence. The government however should be wary of sending signals that it prefers a showdown by goading the militants into confrontation. The point is that in a real military encounter, the nations’ army would surely overwhelm any group of armed persons no matter how well armed, they are. In the process of engaging them militarily, two things would happen; one, the option of dialogue would have been foreclosed giving the impression that the channels of conflict resolution in the polity is weak or non-existent and that the parties are now implacable enemies and second, in seeking to teach the militants a lesson, the nation’s army would inflict more damage and destruction on the economic infrastructure of the nation through aerial bombardment thus committing a similar crime like the militants. In this connection, the militants would have succeeded in provoking the government to cause more devastation with its own hands. Bearing in mind that the militants are not the government, the present administration would still be saddled with the unpleasant task of embarking on reconstruction of these facilities, or a successor government would be tasked with the unpleasant and expensive assignment. On a balance this would extend and deepen the woes of the nation which military force was intended to deal with. It should be noted that since after the civil war, more than 40 years ago, the South-east which suffered most from that war in terms of destruction of lives, properties and infrastructure is still yearning and waiting for reconstruction, rehabilitation and restitution. The country cannot successfully tread the same part again on the Niger Delta issue.

    Nigerians who watched proceedings and read reports of the outing of the country at the recent Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Nairobi, Kenya last week, were full of pride at the performance and conduct of President Buhari. As the leading salesperson of the country, PMB did very well and won Nigeria not only admiration but many friends. The Nairobi conference sponsored by the Japanese government showed the Nigerian leader as a confident diplomat and crowd puller and has reinforced the successes and expectations of his earlier foreign trips in quest of foreign help in the area of investments, capital inflow, repatriation of stolen assets and monies of the country, and the fight against terrorism.

    Following the above, it cannot be said that such a magnet in international circles, PMB cannot apply the same charm that has yielded pledges of cooperation and assistance from World leaders to the domestic arena in dealing with manifestations of discontent to give the nation the peace, unity and harmony it desperately needs to overcome its present challenges.

     

    • Okoroma, a Public Affairs Analyst writes from Abuja.
  • Army deploys more battle tanks, boats in Niger Delta

    Army deploys more battle tanks, boats in Niger Delta

    More military equipment have been moved to the Niger Delta, where the army says it is flushing out criminals.

    The weapons include: Main Battle Tank, two Mine-Resistant, Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and three Scorpion Tanks from the Headquarters of Nigerian Armour Corps.

    Heavy military hardware and battle-ready personnel have been seen in the creeks and on streets of Niger Delta states.

    It is all in a bid to strengthen the ongoing Operation Crocodile Smile, the army said yesterday.

    It was gathered that the hardware, including amphibious vehicles, boats and Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) moved from Benin City, through Warri to other towns at the weekend.

    Troops have seized several suspects in a bid to rid the Niger Delta of criminals.

    Besides, two illegal refineries have been smashed.

    The army says it is flushing militants and criminals out of the creeks as its exercise, Operation Crocodile Smile, enters the third day.

    According to the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, 4 Brigade troops have raided hideouts of suspected criminal in Ajaosolo, Okogho, Opumani and Obodo.

    The Army spokesperson said following intelligence reports, the refineries were destroyed by the troops traversing Ayakoromo and Esaba water ways in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.

    Troops also  intercepted suspected illegal oil bunkerer with 1 “Cotonou Boat” laden with crude oil, 3 X 40 Horse power Yamaha Speedboats and 5 X 200 Litres of illegally refined diesel oil.

    In a similar exercise near Bomadi town and Pendo and Tuomu in Bururtu  Local Government Area  of Delta State, two suspects, Mr. Tokolo Sawyer and Miss Showman Ebiere, were arrested at “Loveth Plaze”.

    Mr Kingsley Ebidimo and seven others with unidentified mission were also arrested at Pendo, allegedly carrying a substance believed to be Marijuana. Other items allegedly found on them include one axe, two cutting saw and a long iron bender.

    As part of the training, the troops have also been patroling waterways in the creeks and have  recovered two “Cotonou Boats” and a 75 Horse Power Speedboat, 30 X 200 Litres  plastic drums containing liquid suspected to be illegally refined crude oil in the creeks at Ovwahwa in Ughelli South Local Government Area. Three suspects – Messrs College Owahwa, Joseph Katte and Olisa Patrick – found around the vicinity have been arrested. They are being questioned.

    In addition to the training, troops are carrying out free medical outreaches at central area Sapele and near Olu of Warri, palace. The exercise continues.

    Indigenes of Kokodiagbene community in Gbaramatu kingdom of Warri South-West Council Area of Delta State have hailed the heavy presence of troops in the riverside communities. But, they advise the troops to be hummane in carrying out their assignment.

    A statement signed by the Chairman of the community, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, said the military patrol boats were searching for militants, oil thieves and other criminals.

    According to the statement, the deployment of the military personnel in the Niger Delta is a welcome development, which will help to protect oil facilities and creeks, as well as reduce waterway robberies.

    Mulade, however, appealed to the troops to be professional and diplomatic as they go about their duties.

    “It will curb and prevent sea piracy attacking traders, reduce crimes and eradicate illegal bunkering activities in the creeks of the Niger Delta, but we want to strongly advise the military authority to apply professionalism and diplomacy”, he said.

    Mulade noted that the deployment of more troops raised tension among the residents of riverine communities, who now live in fear, even as some are relocating to nearby communities. He said there had been rumours of possible military invasion of host communities to flow stations and other oil installations, especially in Gbaramatu kingdom .

     

  • Why military option won’t work in Niger Delta, by IYC

    Why military option won’t work in Niger Delta, by IYC

    Ijaw youths yesterday advised the Federal Government not to deploy troops, fighter jets and other military hardwares in the Niger Delta to flush out militants.

    As part of their resolutions after meeting in Yenagoa under their umbrella body, Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Worldwide, the youths said militants had no permanent location in the creeks, like the Sambisa Forest that provide a safe haven for Boko Haram in the Northeast.

    IYC, in a communique signed by the its President, Mr. Udengs Eradiri and Spokesman Eric Omare, said militants claiming responsibilities for bombings of oil installations were adopting guerrilla tactics to carry out their criminal acts.

    The group said instead of resorting to military option, the security agencies should adopt intelligence gathering to stop attacks and arrest militants.

    IYC said: “We strongly advise against this option. It is not and can never be a solution to Niger Delta’s quest for better deal. Those advising military option are enemies of your government, Niger Deltans and the people of Nigeria.

    “In the first place, the Niger Delta militants that have claimed responsibility for attacks on oil facilities are not stationed in any particular place like Boko Haram in Sambisa forest. There is no Sambisa forest in the Niger Delta region where the military can go and confront insurgents.

    “Those carrying out these attacks have adopted a guerilla strategy; hence the solution is for the relevant security to deepen intelligence, gathering working with local communities and not full-scale military onslaught on the communities and people.

    “Any full scale military action in the Niger Delta would only succeed in killing innocent people and destroying of communities that are also victims of the militancy. It is worthy to note that Gbaramatu Kingdom that the military has been consistently harassing is not the headquarters of any of the militant groups.

    “The Gbaramatu people are peace-loving Ijaw people and the military must stop the consistent invasion of Gbaramatu communities or any other Ijaw community.”

    The group said for permanent peace to be achieved, Nigeria must be restructured, with substantial powers given to federating units to manage and develop their people and communities.

    The IYC said the country as presently constituted is suffocating and hindering federation units from developing their potential.

    The group said: “We must decentralize to discourage the rent-seeking mentality of the federating units. Our inability to make progress is as a result of the defective structure and the type of leadership it has produced.

    “It is a sad commentary that so many states can no longer meet their statutory and basic obligation despite the abundance of untapped natural human resources. What is lacking is the enabling structure to explore available resources to the benefit of the federating units and their people.

    “This country cannot survive  for long with the current practice where states go to the centre to collect their monthly allocation – a scenario of complete economic and socio-political meltdown is no longer a probability but a certainty in the horizon with catastrophic consequence for the country”.

    The IYC said it was in support of President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts to fight criminality in the region within the ambit of the rule of law and respect for human rights.

    But it lamented that the fight against militancy had been used as a subterfuge to arrest and detain many Niger Deltans, especially Ijaw youths.

    It named some of the Ijaw youths languishing in detention without trial as the “Oporoza 10”, Mr. Ezekiel Daniel, ex-militant leader Aboy Francis Muturu, Alex Odogwu.

    The IYC demanded their release without further delay or they should be charged to a court of competent jurisdiction, if the government has any case against them.

    “It is illegal and height of impunity for people to be arrested and dump at detention centres without trial in the name of fighting militancy. Democracy thrives when the rule of law reigns. The arrest and indefinite detention without trial of Niger Delta youths is a threat to democracy,” the IYC said.

    The youths urged President Buhari to display sincerity of purpose in resolving  the crisis.

    IYC said it frowned on the consistent blackmail of Niger Delta leaders, especially former President Goodluck Jonathan who voluntarily offered to support efforts toward the resolution of the crisis.

    “Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, just like the former President, deserved respect and is absolutely unfair for people who work with you to be sponsoring blackmail against him. This is totally unacceptable to the IYC and the entire Ijaw nation and should not be allowed to continue.

    “The intention of those persons is to make the Niger Delta situation look complicated and frustrate efforts to peaceful resolution so as to justify their evil plan to attack communities, kill innocent people and make money from the process.

    “Some of these persons are high ranking government officials in the country and political leaders. They are behind the several conflicting press statements with different pseudo militant groups – all in a bid to frustrate efforts at bringing peace to the region for fraudulent monetary gains.

    “Therefore, we demand that efforts toward the resolution of the crisis must be bipartisan and with sincerity of purpose.

    “We further advise, just like your predecessors did, that you personally drive the dialogue to achieve peaceful and lasting solutions to the Niger Delta questions, your participation in the process will checkmate and drive out the shenanigans.”

  • IYC: Fed Govt planning to exterminate Niger Delta

    IYC: Fed Govt planning to exterminate Niger Delta

    The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) has accused the Federal Government of exterminating Niger Delta residents.

    A statement yesterday in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, by its spokesman Eric Omare, said IYC was reacting to a comment by the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media Affairs, Garba Shehu.

    The presidential aide reportedly said the current negotiations on the region’s crisis, notwithstanding, the Federal Government would still attack those destroying its economic assets.

    Shehu was quoted to have threatened that agitators in the region would be given the Boko Haram treatment, if they failed to negotiate for peace.

    IYC described the comment as a reflection of Federal Government’s alleged insincerity in its peace plan for Niger Delta.

    It said: “The IYC condemns the statement and states that it is reckless and prejudicial to peaceful resolution of the renewed militancy in the Niger Delta.

    “The statement completely displays the Federal Government lack of commitment towards negotiation because there is no basis to threaten Niger Deltans with the Boko Haram treatment when discussions are ongoing and considering the fact that the circumstances of the Niger Delta are different from the Boko Haram crisis.

    “It shows that the government has made up its mind to use force against Niger Delta communities.

  • Niger Delta amnesty programme has transformed ex-agitators – Boro

    Niger Delta amnesty programme has transformed ex-agitators – Boro

    The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boro (rtd), said yesterday that the scheme has transformed the lives of former Niger Delta agitators.

    Boro who doubles as Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, spoke at the graduation of 80 ex-agitators at Innoson KIARA Academy in Enugu.

    He said that the Federal Government was impressed with the response of the participants.

    The coordinator said that he decided to witness the graduation to underscore the importance the government attached to the scheme adding that government would ensure that none of the graduates missed their track, but driven to prosperity following their participation in the nine months course.

    He said: “We shall put our heads together to make sure that you follow through what you have learnt so that other people will see you as serious and try to be like you,” he said.

    Boro said that elsewhere participants in the scheme had shown greater reliability and commitment to succeed in life.

    “Two weeks ago I went to graduate some of our brothers and sisters in London. They surprised everybody in the world because four of them made first class degrees while 22 made second class upper division,” he said.

    He appealed to them to make the country proud in their chosen fields of endeavour and be proud of their heritage.

    He charged them to hold the Niger Delta region very dear and be good ambassadors of the area, adding that the whole of the region was a pride to the nation.

    “The Niger Delta is Africa’s largest delta and the third largest in the world. It covers 70,000 square km and the home of 31 million people with over 39,300 settlements.

    “Let us appreciate it and not destroy it,” Boro said.

    Earlier, the Head, Vocational Training of the programme, Mrs Faith Omofuma, appealed to the graduates to dedicate the rest of their lives in making the best use of what they had learnt.

    She said that the Federal Government painstakingly drew the programme to make them gainfully employed as well as employers of labour.

    She appealed to them not to go back to the creeks, but to be ambassadors of the amnesty programme in order to make more disciples.

     

  • Don’t let Niger Delta University die

    SIR: The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Niger Delta University branch has refused to call off its four months strike that has crippled university life, in spite of efforts by the state government to meet the demands that made them embark on the strike in the first place. After series of negotiation meetings with the Bayelsa State governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson in Yenagoa, ASUU is still insistent on continuing with its industrial action, saying they won’t return to classroom except government pays all arrears of salaries being owed their members in NDU.

    Needless to say that most of the striking lecturers do not appreciate the fact that the state government in spite of receiving less than N2 billion in some months still make effort to pay salaries of its civil service work force that gulps the sum of N4 billion monthly.

    Though the union has made its position on these matters unequivocally clear, but to compel a government to give only one university N500 million out of N2 billion or sometimes N1.5 billion that comes into the state monthly is unfair and unrealistic.

    Unfortunately, these striking lecturers who are Bayelsans and owe their state a duty to service are yet to explain to Bayelsans what they do with the N1.5 billion the university generates from levies and charges annually.

    To them, the duty of the state government is to receive money from the federation account and spend it without recourse to the fact that it is also the responsibility of government to help manage state resources when they are scarce. As far as they are concerned, government is deliberately putting lecturers and students under undue hardship.

    They have also failed to realise that they are a small section of the population and not even bothered about the colossal, negative and multiplier effect of their demands on the overall well-being of Bayelsans that are also working in other sectors of the civil service.

    Suffice to say that the government know that lecturers should be paid, and that their working environment should be conducive for teaching but the ASUU should also consider the fact that the state is currently going through economic recession.

    If this governor that ASUU describes as a governor that treats their complaints with levity could pay them full salaries from 2012 to 2015 without being compelled or reminded, the striking lecturers should also have confidence that this same governor would pay them their full salary when the economy improves.

    With dwindling monthly allocation, the current government struggle with ASUU, once more, calls for sacrifice on the part of lecturers, students and parents to ensure that the state achieves its aim of improving the welfare of all Bayelsans and not to encourage pressure on the government to serve the personal interest of a selected group of individuals.

     

    • Ebiowei Okiemo,

    tupacp1@yahoo.com