The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Niger-Delta

  • Rumbling in Ijaw Youth Council as Fed Govt searches for peace in Niger Delta

    There is no doubt that the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Worldwide, the umbrella body of all Ijaw youths in the world, has been rebranded and refocused under the leadership of its current President, Mr. Udengs Eradiri.

    Eradiri, an engineer, and the IYC Spokesman, Eric Omare, a lawyer, have increased the global appeal for the council; constantly articulated the common position of the Ijaw nationality on matters of national importance and preached non-violence as the sole approach in Ijaw agitation for true federalism and self-determination.

    Despite being the most vocal Ijaw group following the crisis rocking its parent body, the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the IYC appears to be struggling to maintain its unity of purpose. Discordant tunes are gradually emanating from within the Ijaw youth family.

    Trouble started when suddenly a document started circulating on the social media that Eradiri and its Spokesman, Mr. Eric Omare had been suspended. The document was signed by some aggrieved executive members of the council.

    They formulated some issues against Eradiri and Omare. They accused them of conducting themselves in a manner capable of causing disaffection among members of the council. They also accused them of misappropriation as well as forming and encouraging the formations of factions.

    Persons who reportedly signed the documents are the National Secretary-General, Bristol-Alagbariye Emmanuel; Director of Mobilisation, Wisdom Ikuli; Legal Adviser, Ekine Egberekro; Assistant Secretary, Deinkoro George; National Women Leader, Felicia Ngeri and Financial Sercretary, Kemepado Alfred.

    Immediately, the circulation of the document was brought to his notice, Deinkoro, who is the Assistant Secretary of the council, denied being part of the signatories. In fact, in a press statement, Deinkoro insisted that he never signed such document and never attended any of the meetings where such decision was taken against Eradiri and Omare.

    He lamented that his signature was forged and called on the Ijaw nation and the general public to disregard the document. Deinkoro further said he had briefed his legal team to take necessary steps against Ikuli and others who were behind the document.

    But others stuck to their gun. They sent the document to the IYC Mobile Parliament (IMP), which is saddled with the responsibility of sanctioning erring members of the council.

    But the parliament quickly rejected the document and declared it null and void. The parliament insisted that the document was lacking in merit and substance and scolded the originators for disrespecting and disregarding the procedures for such actions stipulated in the constitution of IYC.

    The Parliament in a resolution reached at the end of its sitting which took place at Usoku Town in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State ruled that Eradiri remained the President and Omare, the Spokesman of IYC. The resolution was signed by the Speaker of the IMP, Mkpon Ijonama and Clerk of the Parliament, Mr. Sunny Ogori.

    The IYC through a statement signed by Omare also reacted to the development. Omare condemned the activities of persons sowing seeds of discord in the council and dismissed the suspension document. He described those behind it as moles.

    Omare said IYC is a well-structured organization with a constitution which defines the power of its officers and its organs. According to him the power to suspend or remove officers of the council is the function of the IYC Mobile parliament by Article 10 (B) and (C) of the IYC Constitution after a rigorous investigation procedure.

    He said: “On Saturday the 28th of May, 2016, the IYC parliament with power to suspend or remove officers of council rejected the purported suspension and cautioned the National Secretary, Mr. Bristol Emmanuel.

    “The said letter was fraudulently prepared by only the National Secretary, Mobilization Officer and National Legal Adviser, Mr. Bristol-Alagbariya Emmanuel, Ekine Egbelekro and Wisdom Ikuli respectively with the signature of the Assistant Secretary, Mr. George Deinkoru forged. There is a case of forgery against them already before the appropriate authorities.

    “The said officers are moles in the IYC and the Ijaw Nation who are acting the script of external forces who are not comfortable with the hard and principled stand of the President of IYC, Udengs Eradiri and the Spokesman, Eric Omare in defending and protecting the Ijaw interest.

    “These two officers who the IYC constitution empowers to speak on behalf of the Council have consistently defended the Ijaw interest in the face of threat to their lives and intimidation.

    “The sponsors of these moles have decided to resort to this approach to polarize the IYC and Ijaw nation in the light of the prevailing situation in the Niger Delta region because they have failed to compromise the President and Spokesman of IYC despite several attempts”.

    But the reason behind the sudden efforts to polarise the IYC was traced to the plans by the Federal Government to find permanent solutions to the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) in the region.

    Some persons in the Presidency were said to be desirous of engaging the Eradiri-led IYC to persuade the NDA to embrace dialogue and stop the ongoing destruction of pipelines and other oil installations in the region. There was a general belief that the NDA which had restricted its nefarious activities to Delta and Bayelsa states was dominated by disgruntled Ijaw youths.

    Following its closeness to the Ijaw youths, the leadership of the IYC was to be provided with logistics to move into the creeks and prevail on the avengers to surrender their weapons. But some powerful politicians from the region were against engaging the IYC leadership accusing Eradiri and most members of his council of being supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Persons against the development were said to have mounted serious opposition against Eradiri causing the division of the national executive committee of the council into political lines.

    Eradiri confirmed the development to the Niger Delta Report and urged President Buhari to be wary of some Niger Delta leaders around him.

    He admitted attending a security meeting where the issues were discussed adding that he told the conveners of the meeting the hard truth.

    He said: “A meeting I attended, I made it clear to security agencies that Niger Deltans who are around the President are the problem of President Buhari and that the President should be wary about clowns around him.

    “Didn’t you see? They were in a meeting talking about money spent for the avengers, but the following day, they blew up installations. The same way they deceived Goodluck Jonathan that they were going to negotiate with $40million but were eating fat in the process.

    “These same hawks are around President Buhari. If he wants to engage, he must reach out to stakeholders. I also told security agencies that these persons are not representing the Niger Delta.

    “You are talking to somebody who claims he is representing the region and they are blowing. Is it not an embarrassment to government? They are not happy that the truth is said because they have been deceiving the President all this while”.

    Eradiri further insisted that the IYC remained an apolitical organisation with commitment to protect and defend the Ijaw national interests.

    He said: “The IYC is an apolitical organisation but individuals have party affiliations. I have tried as much as possible to maintain an apolitical front and not allow party issues creep into the IYC.

    “But certain individuals don’t understand the positions they hold and may want to use their party to destabilise what the Ijaw nation is doing.

    “The IYC represents the Ijaw nation. When you come to the IYC you drop your political toga and deal with the issues that concern the Ijaw nation. The some political manipulations but we will do everything possible to insulate this organisation”.

    Despite all the clarifications, the anti-Eradiri group has refused to back down. Instead the went ahead, to announce the replacement of Eradiri and Omare.

    Irked by the moves to polarize the IYC, the council’s parliament, again, sat and resolved that it would no longer sit back and watch few disgruntled elements damage the reputation of the youth body.

    The parliament, the highest law-making organ of the body, also for the umpteenth rime clarified that Mr.Eradiri and Omare remained the President and Spokesman of IYC respectively.

    Passing a vote of confidence in Eradiri and Omare, it said anybody who has petitions and grudges against the duo should follow a due process of lodging their complaints in accordance with the law establishing the IYC.

    The Speaker of IYC Parliament, Mr. Mkpon Ijonama, said reports that Eardiri and Omare had been suspended were the handiwork of few misled members of the IYC executives.

    Ijonama,who was flanked by the Deputy Speaker and other principal members of the IYC Parliament said the persons bandying the suspension document failed to follow the procedures contained in Article 10 of the constitution.

    He said: “We have a procedure as an entity and if you go to Article 10  of the constitution of Ijaw Youth Council, it spelt boldly and clearly a procedure in which one can be suspended or removed from the council. Non of the procedures were met before the so-called suspension on social media”.

    He cautioned persons planning to sow a seed of discord in the council saying the Ijaw Nation would not tolerate distractions in its trying time. Ijonama alleged that some strangers were trying to use willing tools within the Ijaw land to cause division in IYC.

    Describing the IYC as the most vocal voice of the Ijaw, he said the Parliament was ready to invoke the relevant section of the IYC Article to deal with saboteurs within the ranks of the Ijaw youths.

    “We are facing a lot of challenges in our communities, the state and the Federal Government. I think there are ghost hands that are trying to cause division Ijaw Youth Council. We don’t have any faction.

    “Udengs Omare remains the President of Ijaw Youth Council. Eric Omare remains our spokesman. We are warning these persons to retrace their steps or we will invoke the necessary provision of our constitution to deal with them”, he said.

     

  • Nigeria to end fuel importation in 2019- Kachikwu

    Nigeria to end fuel importation in 2019- Kachikwu

    Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, yesterday said Nigeria would end fuel importation by 2019.

    He said it requires $50billion dollars to fill the infrastructural gap in the industry and get it functioning optimally.

    He said by 2019, Nigeria expects to become a net exporter of refined products, adding that an investment drive is ongoing to meet the infrastructure requirement.

    Kachukwu was a guest speaker at the 10th Annual Business Law Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) in Abuja, with the theme: Law reform and economic development.

    Speaking on the sub-theme: Future prospects for the oil and gas industry, the minister said the refineries are currently working at about 40-50 per cent capacity.

    He said the aim is to get them working at 90 per cent capacity or more and build the needed infrastructure as investors come in.

    On why refineries are working at low capacity, he said: “How does a refineries work if the pipelines supplying them are out most of the year and so they can’t supply crude? You can’t refine an empty space.

    “How does it work when you don’t do your turnaround maintenance or if when monies are budgeted for them they are diverted? How does it work if your contracting process is so long that you never meet the turnaround days you’re supposed to? How does it work when you send the wrong set of people with the wrong set of skills to what should have been very important portfolios in the establishment?” he said.

    The minister said engagements with militants in the Niger Delta has been successful, resulting in a ceaseful and rise in crude production.

    He said he visited the creeks and met with the local chiefs with a view to finding a short, medium and long term solution to the crisis.

    Kachukwu praised President Muhammadu Buhari for not employing force in solving the problem, adding that when he visited the creeks, the militants “never fired a gun” while he was there.

    The minister said oil production has picked up as the Niger Delta crisis is being resolved.

    According to him, 1.89million barrels was produced as at Wednesday. He said he expects it to hit 2.3million barrels by next month.

    Kachikwu said reforms in the petroleum industry required “bold thinking to challenge the status quo”.

    According to him, it required balancing interests of several groups with conflicting demands, some of which he said appeared valid.

    He said: “The deregulation was a very bold thinking. Removal of subsidy was a bold thinking. Restructuring (the NNPC) was a bold thinking.

    “We are working on a fairly fast-paced track where every month has a major new issue that we have to deal with.

    “We’re looking at a template of two years in which to do so much in terms of changing this industry and recreating the opportunities that are inherent in the system.

    “The greatest challenge for someone who is initiating policies is how to satisfy all the interest groups. It was why we couldn’t pass the PIB and in trying to get the militants to back out so we can have some peace in the place.

    “Timing of reforms is key and should have been yesterday. In most of the areas we are far behind time and our competitors and that is basically why we’re in a virtual race position today. We need to do all this to be able to get to where we should be.”

    On how the government is dealing with issue of militancy, Kachikwu said it is deploying a wholistic solution.

    “The problem has been that most times when these things (pipeline bombings) happen, we find an interim solution that stabilises production for a while and then we drop off the table and it comes right back.

    “There are lots of things that need to be done. In the short term is to stabilise the conversation so that some civility will replace adversarial norms.

    “I think we’re getting very close to that. At least parties have pulled back for 30 days for more talks. Those 30 days are going to be a fire-engine type racing to do something.

    “We need to set up, for example, a real engagement team that will be able to take up the larger stakeholders – the kings, the community leaders to clearly understand what they want and decide on the minimum standards of what is needed.

    “We also need to set up a much more practical team that deals practically with the individuals who are out there exercising the mantra of militancy.  We need to set up a body that focuses on the development of the Niger Delta.

    “One of the reasons why I took time to fly into some of the creek areas wasn’t for publicity. It was to get a firsthand feel of what it is really like there. Once you get into an area where there are no roads, no light, no water, it’s a different mindset. And you need to spend time to understand that mindset.

    “In the three of the locations that I visited, I could relate the villagers who are living there with the militants who are living next door in the forest and who were respectful enough not to fire guns while I was there.

    “What it showed, as my father used to say, is that ‘mad men have rules of engagement.’ It doesn’t matter what you think of militants, they do the things they do because hopefully they have burning passions for the positions they take and we need to understand that kind of psychology.”

  • Why Niger Delta is polluted, by Shell

    Why Niger Delta is polluted, by Shell

    Oil giant Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) has blamed crude oil theft, sabotage and illegal refining for about 85 per cent of the oil spills from its pipelines last year. These incidents, it said, were the main causes of pollution in Niger Delta.

    These are contained in Shell’s last year’s Briefing Notes, highlighting the firm’s activities at the end of each financial year. It said 25,000 barrels of oil were stolen from the firm last year.

    SPDC listed other problems as insecurity in the Niger Delta, criminality, threats from militants, violent host community agitations and offshore piracy. Others are armed robbery and kidnapping for ransom, crude oil theft, and damage to oil and gas facilities. It said  oil and gas operations in parts of the region are severely impacted by the oil bearing criminalities.

    “Theft of crude oil on the pipeline network was 25,000 bopd in 2015, which is less than the 37,000 bopd in 2014. The number of sabotage related spills declined 93 incidents compared with 139 in 2014. In 2015, the decrease in theft and spills was also in part due to divestments in the Niger Delta. However, theft and sabotage are still the cause of 85 per cent of spills from SPDC Joint Venture (JV) pipelines.

    “A key priority for Shell globally is to achieve the goal of no spills. Regrettably, in addition to spills caused by criminal activity, there were 16 operational spills of more than 100kg in volume from Shell Companies in Nigeria (SCiN) facilities during 2015. This number is less the 38 spills in 2014, partly due to divestments but also reflecting continued progress on preventing operational spills. The total volume of oil spilled in operational incidents also fell to 0.2 thousand tonnes from 0.3 thousand tonnes in 2014,” SPDC added.

    SPDC JV noted that to reduce the number of spills, it would implement its work programme to appraise, maintain and replace key sections of pipeline. Forty-two kilometres of flow lines and 12 kilometres of pipelines were installed in 2015 bringing the total distance of pipelines replaced over the last four years to more than 900km.

    It said last year it sustained surveillance efforts on the SPDC JV pipeline netweek to ensure that spills were discovered and responded to quickly. There are also regular over-flights to detect new theft points and we implemented anti-theft protection mechanisms on key equipment, it added.

    “In 2014, the SPDC JV signed a series of agreements with communities in Ogoniland, which has seen some of the highest rates of theft in recent years, using the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) model. Under these GMoUs, the SPDC JV provides funding to support unarmed community patrols which report incursions and suspicious activity directly to the forces.

    “The SPDC JV also works with communities and civil society across the Niger Delta to build greater trust in spill response and clean-up processes. The principal non-governmental organisation (NGO) coalition in the Niger Delta, the National Coalition on Gas Flaring and Oil Spills in the Niger Delta (NACGONDI) is invited to join joint investigation visits to spill incidents,” it said.

  • What is happening in the Niger Delta?

    This past week, I was in the company of some highly educated Nigerians, some of them influential citizens of our country. The conversation drifted to the story of Vice-President Osinbajo’s recent visit to the Niger Delta to initiate the cleaning up of the Niger Delta. President Buhari had been billed to go and perform this function but, because he could not go, the Vice-President had had to go for him. Surprisingly, very few of the otherwise highly informed Nigerians in our little group that afternoon really knew anything much about what needs to be cleaned up in the Niger Delta part of our country. It is something that Nigerians seriously need to know.

    Most Nigerians know, and almost all suffer the impact of, the general picture of the rape and degradation that Nigeria has been subjected to since independence by the men and women who have been ruling Nigeria. The total picture of that rape and degradation is surrealistic. It is as if leading Nigerians are a sub-human species – a sub-human species naturally incapable of recognizing, appreciating or desiring the higher values of human group life, a sub-human species confidently absorbed in snatching at, and scrambling for, whatever is low and degrading and bestial in the making of man. Since President Buhari started the war against public corruption over a year ago, the constant revelations of greed and public robbery have given us a hugely increased chance to see more and more glaringly the repulsive face of these predators whom we Nigerians call leaders.

    But that is the general picture of the rape and bestialities. From that general picture, a photograph displayed on the worldwide web many months ago grabs and holds my attention as I write these words this morning.  It is a photograph taken in our oil-rich Niger Delta in 2012, near the village of Nembe in Bayelsa State. The earth and the vegetation in all directions are black from oil spillages that have, apparently, been going on repeatedly for decades. The stream through the scene carries a surface layer of black crude oil. It is lifeless and serene, because the oil has long killed the fish, the frogs, the crabs, and all other aquatic life. Dead trees stand like ghostly witnesses to the devastation that has been done over and over in this place for decades. In the distance, a wild fire rages on – most probably from some natural gas being destroyed by flaring.

    Thus in one single snapshot, this lone photograph captures the multi-faceted picture of our brigandage and shame as a country. Our Niger Delta produces virtually all the enormous revenues that keep our Nigeria alive. But we are content to let the Niger Delta die, and to let its inhabitants perish. From privileged positions as a Nigerian senator and member of the Senate Committee on Petroleum and Energy in 1979-83, I saw some of the beginning of the environmental degradation of the Niger Delta in 1981-2, and I was horrified. From all accounts, the situation has grown progressively worse since then. World-wide economic experts and international agencies say that the Niger Delta probably experiences more oil spillages than all the other oil-producing countries of the world put together.

    Because our leaders and rulers have been too busy salivating at the sight of the enormous cash inflowing daily form the oil revenues, and too engrossed in schemes for stealing and sharing the money, they have had no room for concern for the destruction that has been going on in the Niger Delta. Various courts, Nigerian and international, have judged at various times that some of the major oil-exploring and oil-mining companies engaged in the Delta do too little to prevent oil spillages, and do virtually nothing to clean up after oil-spillages have happened – things they would never dare in other parts of the world. They leave the oil pipelines which they have constructed across the face of the Delta to age, corrode and break, spilling countless barrels of crude oil per minute. Quite commonly, such spillages are left going on for months.

    Nigerian government sources have it that more than 7,000 spills occurred between the years 1970 and 2000.  During my time as a senator in the Nigerian National Assembly (1979-83), we federal legislators made some effort to get to see what was happening to the Niger Delta, to call attention to it, and to demand that the executive should do something about it. It was probably because of our actions that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) admitted as follows in a report in the 1980s: “We witnessed the slow poisoning of the waters of this country and the destruction of vegetation and agricultural land by oil spills which occur during petroleum operations. But since the inception of the oil industry in Nigeria, more than twenty-five years ago, there has been no concerned and effective effort on the part of the government, let alone the oil operators, to control environmental problems associated with the industry”. The situation has not changed since then.

    The general situation in the Delta is made worse by the practice of gas flaring. Natural gas is commonly associated with petroleum in the ground, and is commonly released when the oil is mined. In most other oil-producing places in the world, care is taken to tap the gas for sale or to re-inject it back into the earth. Oil fields in Europe take care of 99% of the associated natural gas in these ways. But in Nigeria, virtually all the associated gas is destroyed by flaring away. It was once estimated that, in this way, Nigeria loses about $2.5 billion every year. But gas flaring also increases the poisoning of the country and constitutes a serious threat to the people’s health. Both the Nigerian government and the oil companies readily admit that oil flaring is bad, wasteful and dangerous to human life.

    The destruction of much of the Delta’s farming land, and the poisoning of the rivers and creeks, resulting in the wiping out of aquatic life, has destroyed much of the traditional means of livelihood of the people. It is estimated that over 20% of the ecosystem has been thus destroyed – and that the destruction may reach 40% in the next few decades.  The degradation naturally occurs in patches, leaving some parts more intensely devastated than others. An international agency, Amnesty International, once estimated that more than 70% of the citizens of the Niger Delta subsist on less than one US Dollar per day. The oil spills do not only destroy farmlands, crops and fishing places, they also widely contaminate drinking water sources. And such contamination poses very serious dangers of disease (especially cancers) to the people.

    It is important to add to this picture the fact that when the Nigerian federal authorities who control the Nigerian oil industry do take action to allocate certain benefits of the oil industry to some prominent Nigerians, the citizens of the Niger Delta hardly ever get much share. A list of federal allocations of oil blocks down the decades shows that most allocations usually go to big men in the North and hardly any goes to citizens of the Delta.

    This then is the background to the violent revolts and destructions constantly going on in the Niger Delta. These started not long after Nigeria’s independence – with a Niger Delta youth named Isaac Dappa Boro as leader. It flared very massively when the phenomenally talented Saro Wiwa (who had been avery notable undergraduate student of the Ibadan University when I had been a graduate student there) stepped forth in the 1990s to champion the cause of his battered homeland and people.

    Moreover, more and more, the impoverished folks of the Niger Delta have been pushed into the practice known as “bunkering”. To find ways to survive at all, daring youths from the villages risk their lives to venture into the dangerous terrains in order to steal crude oil for sale, usually having to sabotage the oil pipe-lines to achieve their purpose. According to some reports, this practice has grown into a big underground industry, and is still growing.

    In the past few months, the revolt has reached greater heights than ever before, with a youth organization named Niger Delta Avengers constantly and competently destroying oil mining and pipeline installations. The Niger Delta Avengers have been proving very successful in disrupting the Nigerian oil industry and cutting down Nigerian oil exports –and thus seriously depressing the whole Nigerian economy. And not surprisingly, other local youth bodies have been springing up to add muscle in their own ways to the revolt. Not surprisingly too, a demand for secession of the Niger Delta from Nigeria has increasingly formed an objective of the revolt.

    Obviously, Nigeria cannot let the Niger Delta situation continue to fester. Fundamentally appropriate solutions must be substituted for the failed policies that have been employed for over 50 years. For a president who promised us change, here is a field to pursue and achieve real and permanentchangethat offers the Niger Delta and Nigeria a chance to progress and prosper. It can be done.

     

  • The Niger Delta stand-off

    The Niger Delta stand-off

    As is well known, even the greatest wars ever fought on earth ended at a conference table. Sometimes, it comes after avoidable deaths and destruction of human and material resources. That seems to be the case in the Niger Delta where many weeks after embarking on indiscriminate destruction of key oil facilities, the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA,is beginning to see the wisdom in the dialogue option.

    The NDA started their hostile campaign with some mundane requests such as the release of NnamdiKanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and others. With time, more and more demands were made, a situation that betrayed the real motive of the NDA. At a point they wanted the government to release Sambo Dasuki, who is being held in detention over the N2.3 billion arms purchase scam. It was as if the group took up armson the spur of the moment, not with a clearly designed objective.

    In its latest demands, the NDA wants the government to create a conducive atmosphere for genuine dialogue and lasting peace talks. They also wantthe government to get the member states of the multinational oil corporations to commit independent mediators to the proposed dialogue.

    Lastly, the NDA said they do not want any traditional ruler or politician to be part of the dialogue. They may be right on this. Many politicians and traditional rulers in the country especially in that region have not been able to live above board. Before 1999, it was the traditional rulers in the region that were mostly trusted with issues of development in the area. But over the years, the youths discovered that many of the traditional rulers were insincere and that they were short-changing them.That was why they moved against them. The politicians also entered the stage in 1999.They did not fare any better. In fact, they appeared to be more corrupt than the traditional rulers, hence, the youths decided to take their destiny in their hands.

    It would be recalled that it was the politicians in the region that actually started arming the youths by using them as bodyguards and thugs during the various electioneering processes. Duringthis period, the youths were handsomely paid. But as soon as the campaigns were over, they were quickly abandoned and the politicians never retrieved their arms from them. So, in the face of hunger arising from being abandoned by their pay masters (politicians), the youths had no other option than to strive to fend for themselves. And the arms and ammunition supplied to them by the politicians readily became handy. This has been responsible for the festering incidents of cult-related activities, armed robbery, kidnappingandall forms of banditry going on in many parts of the country, particularly in the Niger Delta region.

    It was this appalling situation thatgave birth to militancy in the region. And because those who were involved earlier in this militancy have risen to become ‘billionaires’ in a society where money is worshipped, otherswere naturally tempted to follow in their footsteps. In Nigeria today, many of those now parading as influential people and money-bags with strings of traditional titles rose to their new-found status through violence and other questionable means. And they are not limited to the Niger Delta region alone. They are everywhere in the country.

    The NDA-induced crisis looks more like a campaign of blackmail against the Federal Government because it is doubtful if they are truly representing the Niger Delta people or a group of attention-seeking individuals who want to get to the government by all means. Nevertheless, the pathetic and appalling situation in the Niger Delta is long overdue for a comprehensive surgery.This is because it is clear that all the palliative measures put in place in the past, have not produced the desired result. For instance, the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, set up as an interventionist agency in 1999, has been hampered by improper funding of its activities. As we speak, the agency is being owed more than half a trillion naira by the Federal Government because of its snail-speed bureaucracy. Yet, this colossal sum of money could have made a whole lot of difference.

    Again take the East-West Road. That road has been under perpetual construction since God-knows-when. Every year, there is always a budget provision but the project has remained static. There is also the lingering issue of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, which debate in the National Assembly has been going back and forth. Yet, one important thing about the bill is the provision for benefits accruable to host communities in oil bearing states in the country.And we talk about developing the Niger Delta region without really committing resources into it.

    Unfortunately, since the NDA started their insurgency in the region, the type of figures usually brandished as the amount of money lost to the crisis on daily basis is staggering. One wonders if a quarter, I mean, just a quarter of that money had been judiciously spent on developing the region, the story wouldn’t have been better than what it is today. I have been to many parts of the Niger Delta especially Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa. People who live in the interiors of these places live in abject poverty and squalor. Go to Kokodiagbene in Gbaramatu Local Government Area of Delta State, you will weep for the people. They are completely cut off from civilization. Their waters are polluted, no pipe borne water, no good roads, the houses are mainly thatched houses and there is no government electricity. In short, like the famous Thomas Hobbes quote, life there is “nasty, short, and brutish” simply because there is no government presence there. The same thing with many oil producing areas of the nine Niger Delta states. The most astonishing thing there is that it is the revenue derived from oil exploration and exploitation in these areas that is used to build those tall edifices in Abuja and elsewhere.

    There is no doubt that there are fundamental issues involved in the Niger Delta conundrum. And the issues have been there for far too long while successive governments and their collaborators have done virtually nothing to address them.  The Niger Delta people have the moral right and legitimate reason to demand for a better deal with the Nigerian government. With the Boko Haram madness still fresh in memory, in resolving the issues at stake in the Niger Delta crisis, we must avoid unnecessary bloodshed and destruction which will do the country and the region no good.Therefore, to restore lastingpeaceto the region will require a holistic approach.

    What the region needs now is improved environment for the inhabitants – good roads, well-equipped hospitals, good schools, electricity, clean water, industries and all that, so that they can reap the full benefit of their God-given mineral resources that have almost become a curse to them. Like the Avengers suggested, the oil multinationals should be involved in this holistic programme to transform the region because the federal and state governments alone cannot do it. It is a massive development.

    In doing this, decent people who are development experts within and outside the region should be co-opted if we must get results. At any rate,the Niger Delta issue will continue to be an albatross to the government and all of us Nigerians as long as we continue to ignore the reality in the region. It is like mosquito perching on a man’s scrotum; you cannot use a gun to kill it, otherwise….Unless something is done to redress this glaring injustice and man’s inhumanity to man in the area and elsewhere in the country, we are only postponing the doomsday;

  • FG agrees one-month ceasefire with Niger Delta militants

    The Federal Government has agreed a one-month ceasefire with militants including the Niger Delta Avengers in the oil-producing region, a petroleum ministry official said on Tuesday.

    Reuters reported that militant groups including the Avengers, who have claimed responsibility for several attacks on oil and gas facilities in recent weeks, could not immediately be reached for comment.

    The militants said they want a greater share of Nigeria’s oil wealth to go to the impoverished Niger  Delta region.

    Crude sales make up about 70 percent of national income and the vast majority of that oil comes from the southern swampland.

    The latest attacks have pushed production to a 30-year low.

    Last week the Avengers said they would negotiate with the government if independent foreign mediators were involved.

    “It was very difficult getting the Niger Delta Avengers to the negotiating table but we eventually did through a proxy channel and achieved the truce,” the official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.

    A second government official, who also wished to remain anonymous, said a “a truce was agreed” with militants.

  • FG/Ijaw talks spark ethnic tension in Niger Delta

    FG/Ijaw talks spark ethnic tension in Niger Delta

    •Urhobo, Isoko leaders accuse FG of succumbing to Ijaw blackmail
    •I wish government good luck—Kokori
    •Negotiation is encouraging criminality in Niger Delta—Idiovwa
    •Delta govt calls emergency security meeting over fresh threats

    A large number of Niger Delta stakeholders are not impressed by federal government’s ongoing negotiation with Ijaw militants from which other ethnic groups in the geo-political zone are excluded.

    The talks are aimed at ending the continuous destruction of oil/gas installations by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) which has brought oil production to about 1.2million barrels per day with severe consequences for the economy.

    Notable Urhobo and Isoko leaders in Delta State, say the one-sided negotiation will only create more problems than it is seeking to solve.

    They are of the view that government should treat the Avengers and others damaging the economy as criminals and not negotiate with them.

    The negotiation, it is feared, largely fueled the recent  emergence of  a militant group in Delta  -Utorogu Liberation Movement – which threatened  to blow up the strategic Utorogu Gas Plant and other assets under Oil Mining Lease, OML 34 in the state.

    Frontline activist and one-time Secretary-General of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Chief Frank Kokori, said he expected those involved in the destruction of the nation’s assets to be treated as criminals.

    The Urhobo and Isoko, speaking through the chairman of OML 30 Community Development Board (CBD), Morris Idiovwa, warned the federal government against dialoguing with those destroying oil and gas assets in the name of the Niger Delta as doing so could only degenerate into a fresh round of ethnic wars in the region.

    Some ex-militants, under the third phase of the federal government amnesty programme, who are of Urhobo stock threatened to also destroy  critical oil and gas assets in their area if that is what would  get them federal government’s attention as the Ijaw groups have done.

    The Delta State government, reacting to the threat to blow up the Utorogu Gas Plant, convened an emergency security meeting in Jeremi, the headquarters of Ughelli South council area of the state on Thursday.

    Asked to comment on the reported negotiation between the federal government and some Ijaw militants, Chief Kokori, who is also a leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State said: “Have they started negotiating with them? I wish them well if they have identified the right people, but to me I regard people who damage federal infrastructure as criminals.

    “I don’t know who they are discussing with and I don’t know the type of negotiation they are holding, but I wish them good luck.”

    For his part, Idiovwa, said the Urhobo who are the largest ethnic group, and the Isoko have more critical facilities in their localities  than the Ijaw, who  he said seemed to have blackmailed  the federal government to talk to them by destroying the few assets in their own part of the state.

    He said:”What we have been seeing in Delta State is terrifying; especially in the way a single ethnic nationality is taking over the identity of the entire Niger Delta.  What is happening is outright criminality and we, as the largest ethnic group in Delta state, are not in support of this.

    “We have never been criminals and we don’t want to be criminals. We believe the best way to approach issues is dialogue. But with what we are seeing now, the intelligence we are gathering and what is in the media, a set of people decided to take up arms and disrupt the existing peace in the Niger Delta region because of their selfish interest.

    “The federal government has already started inciting an ethnic crisis in Delta state because as we speak now, we have been receiving series of mails, SMS and calls from different regions and groups in Urhobo and Isoko.

    “My office is responsible for ensuring safety of life and property here and if the people are aware that the same advantage they have, in terms of assets and production, is what some people in another part are using to get the federal government to come to negotiate with them, because those people have taken to arms struggle and are destroying the assets in their areas, what would you expect from those who have been law abiding, calm and watched over the facilities in their domain?

    “So you want to disregard them because they have not taken up arms. This is one move we will resist.

    “Government should tread carefully. We are not in support of any criminality by any set of people. We have not mandated Egbesu to negotiate for us, we have not mandated the Avengers, MEND, JNDLF or IYC to negotiate for us. We have not mandated any group to negotiate for the Urhobo or Isoko.

    “We are standing on our own and we are telling the federal government that whatever is done for any group should be replicated across the entire Niger Delta states or host communities that are producing, otherwise the outcome will be disastrous.”

    Also speaking in Ughelli for members of the third phase of the Amnesty Programme in Urhobo, ‘General’ Gabriel Ogbuge said: “We have been shortchanged and sidelined. What the federal government is doing is very bad. We have all those facilities here, but government has never thought of coming here to hear from us.

    “We have been peaceful only because of the efforts of some of our leaders. If not we know what we need to do to get their attention; we have the capacity to inflict the kind of damage the Avengers are inflicting, and remember that more facilities are here.”We see dialogue as a better option and that’s why we have been listening to our leaders. If the federal government wants peace they should do the right thing, and not force us to do what the Avengers are now doing.”

    To forestall the festering security crisis in Delta State, the state government convened a security council meeting on Thursday to discuss the new threats surfacing in the Urhobo areas of the state.

    Chairman, Ughelli South Council, Paul Etaga, presided at the meeting.

    In attendance were oil host community heads and security operatives.

    Reviewing the meeting, Etaga said: “From preliminary intelligence report, the group raising the threat are external forces working with some internal collaborators. They gave OML 34 stakeholders, especially community people 14 days to leave the operating environment so that when they come for the attack they won’t be hurt; that they want to come and destroy the gas plant. With that information, the governor immediately directed that I should call an emergency security meeting. The governor is aware and they are putting up measures in place for protection of life and property.”

  • More enemies for Niger Delta Avengers

    More enemies for Niger Delta Avengers

    They claim to be fighting for the interest of the Niger Delta. But daily, more voices are rising against the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), which has become synonymous with economic sabotage, writes MIKE ODIEGWU, YENEGOA

    Militancy, violence, environmental pollution, kidnapping, economic sabotage and other vices are ruining the image of the Niger Delta.

    From the past destructive and bloodletting footprints of the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) to the present scavenging Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), the development and progress of the region has been at the receiving end of various agitations.

    But significant number of persons in the region are not happy with persons who visit their anger on pipelines and other oil installations as a way of drawing the attention of the Federal Government either to the plight of the region or their selfish pursuits.

    While the avengers were wreaking havoc on the environment and economy, people of like minds gathered some days back at the NUJ Secretariat in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, to proffer solutions to the lingering problems in the Niger Delta. The event was tagged “the Boroh for Peace Seminar” and was organised by a lawyer, Mr. Igbeta Itari.

    Prof. Solomon Ebobrah of the Niger Delta University (NDU) and a human rights activist and state Chairman, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), representatives of the Joint Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and some other security agencies were all represented.

    A former Vice-President, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Mr. Okorodas, who delivered the keynote address, decried the poor state of oil pipelines. He said such pipelines accounted for many instances of environmental pollution.

    Delivering the lecture, Ebobrah urged youths to shun militancy and destruction of pipelines. He insisted the region would pay dearly for the ongoing destruction and degradation of the environment under the guise of agitation.

    After the lecture came the discussion which bothered on many knotty issues affecting the Niger Delta. Situating the current violent agitation against the backdrop of the ideals of the late Ijaw icon, Isaac Adaka Boro, the participants agreed that the current agitators were anti-Boro. They said Boro stood for peace and serially condemned sponsorship of violence.

    The discussants reinstated their belief in the Nigerian project but said the country should be governed to accommodate the peculiarities in the Niger Delta. They maintained that the region holds better promises in the future in a well-structured Nigeria.

    But the participants heaped much of the blames on the political leaders from the region. Over the years, huge sums of money have come into the region in allocations and other special Federal Government’s intervention funds.

    They were worried that despite the huge revenue allocations, the region still lagged behind in infrastructure. The participants reasoned that if funds received over time had been properly utilised to positively impact the people, the unrest would not have occurred.

    On the environment, the discussants lampooned the multinational oil corporations. They observed that oil firms’ activities had damaged the environment, accusing the firms of operating below environmental safety standards.

    Illegal oil dealers were not also spared by the activists who, however, commended the determination of President Muhammadu Buhari to clean the environment with his inauguration of Ogoni land clean-up.

    While admitting that the citizens have the rights in the constitution to speak out, the participants said such exercise of rights must be done within the ambit of the law. It becomes, however, a clear act of criminality where it involves the use of arms. They urged all militant groups to lay down their arms and save communities from the collateral damage that could arise from such armed conflicts.

    On the Presidential Amnesty Programme, discussants lauded Buhari on his decision to continue with the programme. They further eulogised the President for appointing Gen.Paul Boroh (retd) as his Special Adviser and Coordinator for the programme.

    They commended Boroh for optimising local content to advance the programme, including the ongoing construction of an ultra-modern skill acquisition centre with the state-of-the-art facilities in Kaiama, Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

    They recalled that prior to Boroh’s emergence, the programme was hijacked by politicians. The participants advocated an enhanced training programme for the youths and appealed to the amnesty office to make Niger Delta Young Lawyers (NDYL) an integral part of its programmes.

    One of the speakers, Mr. Taramabebe Mologe, who represented Boro at the occasion, asked the people to hold their various political representatives responsible for the underdevelopment of the region. He said challenges, such as the coastal roads, railways and ocean surge, were supposed to be championed by the region’s representatives in the National Assembly.

    He said: “There are many legal ways of representation, for government to grant you attention, peacemaking and some corporative petition. When it is time for dialogue, your strong point must be brought to the forefront.”

    Also, the NSCDC’s representative, Mr. Frederick Ogbole, admonished the Ijaw youths to embrace peace, insisting no meaningful development would be attracted to the region in atmosphere of violence.

    “Development can only come through peace and you should take the advantage of the proposed dialogue by the Federal Government to maintain peace in the region. When there is peace, foreign and local investors will come and job which we have been clamoring for will be created.”

  • Niger Delta Avengers gives govt conditions for talks

    Niger Delta Avengers gives govt conditions for talks

    Fed Govt ready for dialogue, says Kachikwu

    Militant groups in row

    The Federal Government yesterday said it has not closed the avenues for negotiations with the new Militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), saying it would explore every available opportunity for negotiation so that the NDA can stop the bombings of oil pipelines and platforms.

    Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Ibe Kachikwu, stated this at the South-South Town Hall Meeting held at the Le Meridien Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

    Kachikwu said there is no theatre in the world where conflicts have been resolved through a battle. He said his mandate as minister of state for petroleum is to protect oil production and to generate more revenue for the government.

    He explained that on the part of the Federal Government, negotiating with the militant group is not an evidence of weakness of the military but that massively bombing a territory would not articulate a solution to the already exiting problems.

    “It doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong. I have too many objectives in this portfolio; one is to present production and generate the revenue because if we don’t, all the things we are talking about here will be just a joke.

    “I believe that massively bombing a territory is not going to articulate solution. It has never worked because at the end of the day you will leave with the effects of that destruction. That is probably what has caused most of the problems in the world today.

    “This is not issue of weakness. We will explore every avenue for negotiation. The military strength of this country is not in doubt. I think if anybody doubted it, you will see what has happened to Boko Haram.

    “But we will first discuss. We will first negotiate but if doesn’t work we will not know what to do. But I have not seen evidence that the avenues for negotiations have closed. We are making a dramatic progress and I will like to push those frontiers.”

    Akwa ibom state Governor Udom Emmanuel also advised the Federal Government to dialogue with the avengers to allow for sustainable peace and development in the region.

    Emmanuel noted that the country’s economy had been brutalised by the recent violence being experienced in the Niger Delta region.

    “Government must do all it can to dialogue with Niger Delta militants as our economy is based on resources accruing from this region.

    “Government must look into the underlining issues of the region; we must dialogue with the stakeholders from the region to resolve these problems once and for all.”

    Emmanuel also urged the Federal Government to revive the amnesty programme with a view to accommodating more persons.

    He said that abandoning the programme will not the best option now for the people.

    On the discrepancy in the allocation of oil blocks raised by some indigenes of the Niger Delta, Kachikwu said President Muhammadu Buhari had not allocated any oil blocks since he came on board.

    He, however, assured the Niger Delta people that at the appropriate time, due process would be followed in the allocation of oil blocs so that it would be beneficial to the people of South Sooth region.

    Kachikwu said: “Since we came on board, this government has not allocated any block of petroleum. The President has not put any emphasis on that at all. He said he needs to correct the mess before we begin to think of giving advantages.

    “On the issue of oil blocks, when the time comes it will follow due process. I am one of those who believe that there is a need for us to see how the South South corridors will benefit from the oil blocks because that is part of giving back. It will bring the final solution to this area. Those who have skills and finances to develop will be allowed to develop it.”

    Niger Delta Avengers gives govt conditions for talks 

    More threats came yesterday from the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), the group responsible for the devastating attacks on oil facilities in the region.

    It warned that it might resort to shedding blood and more damaging attacks if the Federal Government, oil multinationals and international oil merchants fail to heed its warning against repairing the facilities it destroyed and crude sales.

    But the group, in a statement by its spokesman, ‘Brig.-Gen’ Mudoch Agbinibo, gave a tacit indication of its readiness for dialogue, although it said nothing about sending representation or taking part in any dialogue.

    In the statement, the insurgent group restated its resolve to attack the interest of any of the multinational oil company which repairs its attacked facilities.

    It added that any company which continues to buy Nigerian oil would lose its investment as it would sink two vessels of any defying company.

    The NDA said it had no new demands to negotiate with the government; it only wants an atmosphere that would make it to be willing to take part in any talks in which independent mediators will participate. It did not name such negotiators.

    Here is the statement (unedited):

    “The high command of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) is using this medium to restate that there are no new items to put on the table for dialogue, we only want a genuine attitude and conducive atmosphere that will make us commit to any proposed dialogue and last peace talk.

    “We want the Federal Government to commit members states of the multi national Oil Corporations to commit independent mediators to this proposed dialogue; we believed that it is only such environment that will engender genuine dialogue that will be aimed at setting up a framework for achieving the short, medium and long term demands of the Niger Delta to de-escalating this conflict and bring about a lasting peace.

    “The NDA high command is restating our commitment to attack the interest of oil corporation and international refineries operators that bring in vessels to the Niger Delta territory to buy our oil that every successive government have refused to used and reapply the proceeds towards any development in the region since 1958.

    “If they refuse to heed to our advice will result to sinking of two their mother vessel as an examples to others. They should not undertake any repair of pipeline, oil and gas facilities that is damaged or attacked by our forces during this period of “Operation Red Economy” until and/or after the dialogue.

    “The issues of the Niger delta are as old and as new as the days of Pa. Dappa Biriye, Major Jasper Isaac Adaka Boro, to Ken Saro Wiwa and the government of President Musa Yar’ Adua. We are warning this government of President Muhammadu Buhari not to turn the essence of genuine peace talk and dialogue to political jamboree that is prevailing now where all manner of social media agitators and criminals have being sponsored by the job seeking corrupt political class to safe faces before the government of the day.

    “Finally, if need be we may review our earlier stance of not taking lives. We are going to redirect and reactivate all our activities if the government, oil companies and their services firms don’t heed to these modest warnings of not carrying out any repairs works   and suspend the its ying of crude oil from our region as we await the right atmosphere that will engender genuine dialogue “ We Want a peace with Honour not a Peace of our time,” the statement said.

     

  • Insurgency is counterproductive to Niger Delta’s economy, says inc

    The Ijaw National Congress (INC) has described the ongoing wave of insurgency and its resultant effect on the nation’s economy as counterproductive to the Ijaw nation, condemning the destruction of national assets by insurgents.

    The apex Ijaw socio-cultural organisation expressed the resolve in a position paper, signed by the National President of the body, Barr. Boma Obofuoribo.

    While reiterating its support for the federal government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, it urged government to go about managing the escalating situation with restraint, noting that only dialogue and negotiating could yield the best results.

    While calling on those behind the insurgency to call their activities off with immediate effect, the INC called the federal government to start taking steps that will positively impact on the people of region.

    “The Ijaw ethnic nationality pledges its support to the federal government of Nigeria, led by President Muhammadu Buhari. This support has been made in various fora. We are non-partisan and apolitical and we will support any popularly elected government.

    “”We condemn the present resurgence of bombings of pipelines and oil installations in the Niger Delta as this ultimately, is counterproductive to the Niger Delta and the Nigerian state.

    “We appeal to the federal government to show restraint in its pronouncement and actions to crush the Niger Delta militants. We believe that this will not bring any lasting solution to this complex problem. The options of dialogue and negotiating are worthwhile and therefore, should be pursued.

    “While we urge the perpetrators to immediately stop these unwholesome actions, we appeal to the federal government to restructure the amnesty programme for better impact on the people and the community to assuage the plight of the people of the region and remove, from focus, some of the issues that have been responsible for these behaviours.

    “We appeal to the federal government to urgently enter into dialogue with stakeholders in the region in a bid to safeguard the interest of the nation”, it said.