The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta on Monday, ordered Julius Berger Plc, to vacate all project sites in the Federal Capital Territory on or before August 11, 2008.
It said in an e-mailed statement by its Spokesman, Mr. Jomo Gbomo, that it would launch an �unprecedented deadly,� attacks on expatriate staff of the company in Abuja and other parts of the country if it failed to heed the order.
The statement by the umbrella body of militant groups in the Niger Delta came shortly after the Federal Government said it cost 650 million barrels of crude oil daily to the crisis in the region.
MEND said it believed that going by Julius Berger�s policy of withdrawing from areas of harassment in Nigeria, it would not be difficult for it (Julius Berger) to leave the FCT.
It recalled an incident in Abuja Friday when a mob burnt down the firm�s vehicles and pointed out that if such had happened in the Niger Delta, the �Army would have been called upon to open fire on the people and then brand them as militants.�
�MEND expects Julius Berger, a company which has benefited tremendously from the Niger Delta region where its crude oil was used as barter payment in most cases for the building of Abuja, to apply the same policy of leaving troubled areas as it did when it recently quit the Niger Delta,� the statement read in part.
But just as Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan told petroleum engineers in Abuja on Monday that Nigeria�s daily crude oil production had dropped to below 1.8 million bpd due to persistent attacks by militants on oil platforms, the Minister of Defence, Alhaji Ahmed Yayale, said those who criminalised the struggle in the Niger Delta would not go unpunished.
The vice-president spoke through the Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum), Mr. Odien Ajumogobia, at the annual international conference and exhibition by the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Jonathan, who maintained that President Umaru Yar� Adua was committed to addressing the challenges of the region, stressed the need for oil producers to meet increased demand as the world economy grows.
He restated that Nigeria�s aspiration was to double crude oil production capacity from the current 3.2million bpd to four million bpd over the next two years and progressively grow further.
Jonathan admitted that realising the production aspiration and at the same time achieve a zero flare out policy within the shortest possible time would pose a serious challenge.
The solution, according to him, lies in innovation.
Earlier, the SPE Council Chairman, Mr. Abiye Membere, had said that the fluctuating oil demand prompted oil producers to continue to look for innovative ways of meeting global energy demands.
Meanwhile, the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, as Operation Restore Hope, on Monday, counted losses arising from Saturday�s hijack of its two gunboats by the recalcitrant militants in the restive region.
On Monday four Browning machine guns and two rocket launchers were stolen by the militants from the two gunboats towed away from the Logistic Base of the security outfit in Bomadi, the headquarters of Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State.
Already, the Defence Headqaurters in Abuja had queried the Commander of JTF, Brig.-Gen. Wuyep Rimtip, on the losses incurred by the agency.
It was gathered that the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Owoye Azazi, directed that the missing weapons must be recovered within seven days.
About six Ijaw riverside communities were sacked on Monday by the JTF.
Consequently, Rimtip, had been under pressure from DHQ to recover the stolen arms from the militants.
To this end, the troops of JTF on Sunday night besieged some coastal communities in Bayelsa and Delta States ostensibly in search of the stolen military arms and ammunitions.
Also in Abuja on Monday, the Minister of Defence warned that �those who have criminalised the genuine agitation for development in
the Niger Delta must also be brought to book.�
Yayale , who spoke at the graduation lecture of Nigeria Defence College Course 16 , said there was no way that development in the Niger Delta could be achieved in the midst of choas.
He said, �Government is aware that for peace to be achieved in the Niger Delta, the emphasis has to be on development. If there must be development, then there must be justice for all the people in the area.
�One thing must be very clear here. Just as justice must be meted to all individuals, those who have criminalised the genuine agitation for development in the Niger Delta must also be brought to book.
At the event, the United Nations Under-Secretary General, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, said that Nigeria lost about 700 soldiers in one month in 1999 during peace keeping duties in Sierra Leone.
Gambari, who was the guest lecturer, said no country had ever made such a sacrifice in one month.
He said, �I believe that I am not divulging an official secret and even if I do, I hope I wont go to jail for this. There was a time in the UN where some member nations tried to criticise Nigeria over its poor human rights standing. I asked them to show me any country which had made so much sacrifice like Nigeria for international peace in one month alone.�