2-IN-1 STORY: Nigerian Ex-Militants Call For End To Niger Delta Pipeline Attacks; Buhari: Niger Delta Militancy Threatens National Economy

From right: President Muhammadu Buhari; Shell Global Upstream Director, Mr. Andrew Brown; MD/Country Chair of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor; and Shell GM, Business & Government Relations, Simbi Wabote, at the State House in Abuja yesterday. Photo: State House

Former militants have called for a halt to a resurgence of attacks on oil and gas facilities in Nigeria's Niger Delta, saying it is an unnecessary distraction for President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.

Reuters report continues:

The defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a group of former militants who previously targeted the oil-rich region, made the call in a statement late on Friday.

Buhari said on Friday he had heightened the military presence in the region where attacks in the last few weeks - mostly claimed by a group calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers - have driven the country's oil output to a more than 20-year low.

"We should give President Buhari the opportunity to fulfil his promises to the Niger Delta people by maintaining peace in the region," former MEND members said in the statement.

"The current resurgence of militancy is an unnecessary distraction to the current administration," they said.

Nigeria, which relies on oil sales for 70 percent of national income, is going through its worst economic crisis in decades caused by low crude prices.

Former members of MEND, many of whom secured lucrative contracts to protect pipelines under an amnesty agreement, are influential, although whether this extends to those responsible for the recent attacks is not clear.

Buhari: Niger Delta Militancy Threatens National Economy

Daily Trust reports that President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday that attacks on oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta threaten the national economy.

Buhari said this at a meeting with the Global Director (Upstream) of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, Mr. Andrew Brown, Aso Rock Presidential Villa Abuja.

A group known as Niger Delta Avengers had claimed responsibility for series of recent attacks on oil installations in the region.

The president also stated that he had directed the Chief of Naval Staff to reorganize and strengthen the military Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta in order to deal effectively with the resurgence of militancy and the sabotage of oil facilities.

He assured oil companies operating in the volatile region that his administration was taking all necessary actions to protect strategic assets there from vandals and criminals.
“We have to be very serious with the situation in the Niger Delta because it threatens the national economy. I assure you that everything possible will be done to protect personnel and oil assets in the region,” the president stated.

He said the operations of the JTF were also being enhanced with increased support and cooperation from the United States and Europe in the areas of training, intelligence, equipment and logistics.

He urged aggrieved persons, militants and communities in the region to drop their “confrontational stance and work with those who have been charged by the federal government to review the Amnesty Programme initiated by the (late president Umaru) Yar’Adua administration for the benefit of all parties.”

Buhari also lauded “the resilience and staying power” of Shell in Nigeria despite the operational challenges of the environment.

He charged the company to do its best to end gas-flaring in the Niger Delta region quickly and produce more gas for electricity generation to support manufacturing and job creation in the country.

Earlier, Brown, who had appealed for an urgent solution to the rising crime and militancy in the Niger Delta, dispelled the speculation that his company was pulling out of Nigeria.

The Shell executive said contrary to such speculation, the company was rather discussing with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on new joint oil and gas projects.