THE Federal Government says the conflict in the troubled Niger Delta is fuelled by the collaboration of foreign nationals with militant elements in the area.
The foreign arms merchants, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, have been fingered by intelligence reports as constituting the channels through which sophisticated arms are brought into the country for a “war” against the Nigerian economy and the state.
But the government yesterday promised a “quick response” to the humanitarian crisis being generated. Maduekwe said the Ministries of Defence and Niger Delta as well as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) now have a mandate for joint intervention response programme to restore normalcy to the area.
Briefing the diplomatic community in Abuja on the situation in the area, Maduekwe noted that the ongoing operations by the Joint Task Force (JTF) were “not retaliatory but are partly a reassurance to the troops and their families that members of the JTF are not merely sitting ducks for the militants.”
The military action, Maduekwe added, was to assure that “the Nigerian State is safe for its citizens and foreigners alike irrespective of the small enclave of violence in parts of the Niger Delta.”
Appealing to the diplomats that Nigeria required patience from the international community because solutions being fashioned by the Federal Government did not always come quickly; the Minister reeled out frightening statistics of damage to the Nigerian economy by the militants to justify the purge.
Maduekwe disclosed that about 150,000 barrels of crude oil were stolen per day in illegal bunkering by militants in concert with “unscrupulous foreign nationals and gun-running syndicates.”
“They (militants) obtain enough military hardware to terrorise the populace, sustain instability in the Niger Delta and proliferate small arms and armed robbery throughout the country and even beyond.”
According to the Minister, from 2008 till date, 33 JTF personnel had been killed, 38 missing, 55 wounded while five military gunboats had been destroyed, three seized and 24 automatic weapons and 579 rounds of ammunition captured.
“The militants have also been making efforts to shoot down one naval helicopter and one air force helicopter,” he said.
Contextualising the conflict, the Minister said: “No government anywhere in the world would fold its arms and watch the reign of terror by the militants. Nigeria is not at war. We do not want anything to remind us of the Nigerian Civil War. The activities of militants have the potential of triggering a major international armed conflict.”
It was a full house briefing in Abuja, as government tried to assure the international community that the country was not at war. But it turned out to be a blame-seeking forum.
One of the governors in attendance, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State disagreed vehemently with Chief Maduekwe on the assertion that there had not been a deliberate policy of the Federal Government to marginalise the people of the Niger Delta and keep them down.
Amaechi said: “I beg to disagree with you, Honourable Minister. If government officials shy away from the analogy of history of the problem of the Niger Delta, then we will not be able to solve it.
“There has been injustice. There has been a deliberate attempt by the government of Nigeria to impoverish and take away the resources of the people that God has blessed and put in a very difficult terrain and for the burden of the area.
“God blessed (the area) with the resources to overcome the challenge. There has been an attempt to deprive them.
“What is happening cannot be solved by derivation. It is political… What is happening is a conflict of thieves and poor men. Yes, the militants are not freedom fighters because there is no freedom to be fought for.”
Governor Amaechi accused the Nigerian State of insincerity and contradictions. Giving the example of the militant leader, Ateke Tom, he said:
“In 2005, Ateke Tom was declared wanted by the government. (But) the police were escorting the same man to his father’s burial.
“There is even now a deliberate attempt to move the oil economy to Lagos. I do not subscribe to the method of the militant. That is why I attacked the first camp in my first week in office. Only the enforcement of law can stop the kidnapping currently going on.”
Apart from the Minister of the Niger Delta, Fort Ekaette and his Minister of State, Godsday Orubebe, other governors at the briefing, which held at the congress hall of the Transport Hilton Hotel included Timipre Silva (Bayelsa), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Godswill Akpabio, represented by his deputy, Patrick Ekpotu (Akwa Ibom), as well as Liyel Imoke also represented by his deputy (Cross Rivers).
The Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, was, however, absent.
All the governors, who spoke, urged the Federal Government to immediately tackle the bunkering activities carried out by the Nigerian elite.
Responding to the question by the Greek Ambassador on the Federal Government’s plan for the protection of oil installations, Governor Uduaghan said the responsibility now lay with the state governments, “and we are already doing something about that.”
Ekaette listed efforts by the Federal Government and the Ministry to ameliorate the problems and open up the area to include consultants’ work “for the survey and design of the 721-kilometre Niger Delta coastal road, which would run from Calabar to Ilaje in Ondo State.”
He also disclosed that the sum of N28.4 billion had been provided for the re-award of the contract for the abandoned portion of the East-West road, which is an ongoing project stretching from Warri through Kaiama to Port Harcourt and extending to Oron in Akwa Ibom State.