Sustaining the looming peace in the Niger Delta
A couple of days ago, the Federal Government directed the Joint Task Force (JTF) operating in the Niger Delta to suspend military raids on villages suspected to be safe havens of the militants.
Before the government directive, the JTF, which is code-named ‘operation restore hope’ had raided the Okirika community in Rivers State.
The military operation was intended to smoke out Ateke Tom, leader of Niger Delta Vigilantes, whose operational base was in the ‘evil forest’ located in the community.
The raid attracted widespread reactions by the various militant groups in the area, with the leader of the militant group alleging that men of the JTF took away his Toyota Hillux Van and a sum of five million, two hundred thousand naira only.
His group threatened reprisal attacks and demanded for compensation, a demand, which the government rejected.
The militant group later launched a string of attacks on the streets of Port Harcourt, leaving the corpses of both military and civilian casualties.
The security agencies responded by a second raid of Ateke’s village, Okochiri and a threat by Rivers State governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amechi to the people of Okirika Community to produce the militant leader or risk continued military presence.
The Joint Task Force also raided other communities in the state in its efforts to smoke out the militants out their hideouts.
The militants have also not been resting in their oars as they intensified their attacks on both military and civilian targets.
It is against this background that observers welcome the government’s directive for the suspension of military onslaught in the villages.
The unfolding events indicate that the militants are also ready to shield their swords. Apparently reacting to the government’s directive, Ateke was quoted as saying that “we are tired of fighting.”
The crisis in the Niger Delta has taken its tolls on human lives and crude oil output.
On June 7, 2006 the militants attacked some officers and men of the Nigerian Navy who were guiding Shell facilities at the Cawthrone Channel River in Port Harcourt.
The commando-style operation which was targeted at some foreign oil workers and a gas plant claimed the lives of no fewer than two civilians and four naval personnel, including Francis Niyi Kolawole, a Navy Commander.
On July 12, 2006 the militants attacked some Nigerian Navy personnel escorting Chevron workers and equipment to the Escravos-gas-to-liquid plants in Warri, Delta State.
The attack also claimed the lives of four naval personnel including Edwin Egbulam Ugwu, a Naval Commander. The Nigerian Army also lost some of its men in the crisis.
There have been many incidents of armed robbery attacks allegedly masterminded by these militants since the crisis started.
The situation has become so bad and the Federal Government so helpless that she recently admitted having forfeited 800,000barrels of crude oil daily, worth more than $18 billion a year and the threat of more attacks still rent the air.
“Each step in the history of the Niger Delta struggle has always assumed more sophistication than the previous one. A total shutdown is a high possibility”, said Oronto Douglas, an Ijaw activist and immediate past Commissioner for Information in Bayelsa State who has been mandated by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to mediate with the Federal Government.
According to him the total shutdown could occur if the military wages retaliatory attacks against the militants. “The Ogonis succeeded in grounding Shell activity for close to 15 years. Now MEND has started. Little by little they will close down all the oil production in the Niger Delta” said Sampson Agba, a community leader in Iko village in Rivers State.
“If Shell never comes back, we would have lost nothing. We are better off without oil production”, said Young Kigbara, a member of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP).
Niger Delta militants who protest against oil companies have existed in the oil-rich region for centuries. Militant activities started during the colonial era through the attack of European ships carrying slaves and palm oil.
Modern protests began in 1993 with peaceful Ogoni rallies which have spread to the entire region and evolved into criminal activities with frequent military-style raids, kidnappings and bank robberies.
“Everyone accepts there is criminal element to the struggle, but criminality was not the origin of the struggle. People have always agitated for fairness”, said Chris Alagoa, Coordinator of the Niger Delta Peace and Security Secretariat, a coalition of civil society groups and government initiative.
The Federal Government demonstrated this fairness by awarding an oil bloc, Oil Prospecting License, (OPL) 233 to a relatively unknown company, Niger Delta United Oil Company, controlled by the militants during the May 19th 2006 mini bid round. Some people accused the Federal Government of awarding oil bloc to terrorists but majority of Nigerians applauded the government’s olive branch.
“That is resource control”, said Tony Chukwueke, Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
“It is targeted at youth emancipation. The state governments have a share but the controlling powers will be all these youths who create trouble. We are seeing if we can get them together. They will be asset owners and they have to bring in reputable operator”, Chukwueke said.
The militants who are required to re-invest their profit in infrastructural development in the region also paid a signature bonus of $11 million.
“I was delighted that the Niger Delta Company paid their full deposit. This is an attempt by the government to create some emancipation in the Niger Delta and to show commitment to the development of the region, but done by the people of the region themselves. What we are trying to do is to try and push all the different groups together”, Chukwueke said.
“Then they can choose someone to head the company. At the moment I don’t know who that is . They do have an office in the Delta and they came with a banker’s cheque to pay the 25 percent deposit”, he added.
Many people believed that the government’s action could bring relative peace to the troubled region. But instead of bringing peace, more militant groups continued to emerge.
Apart from Tom Ateke’s Niger Delta Vigilantes, Niger Delta Volunteer Force and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) which is a coalition of many other smaller groups, there exist the Pennington Communities Development Front (PENCODEF) and the Iduwini Volunteer Force (IVF) both in Bayelsa State.
Others are the Front for Ijaw Survival and Hope (FISH), Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC) and the Martyr’s Brigade.
Even communities and villages now engage in hostage takings under the guise of making oil communities to honour the Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) signed with them.
Apart from the Buguma Development Association in Rivers State that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the Sapiem SpA workers over a year ago, another community in the state, Tamatagbolo was behind the latest kidnapping of the two Filipinos, Pacific Gaton and Joe Doctorlero, both employees of the Norway-based Petroleum Geo Services Company also a year ago.
As these militant groups increase in number, their methods of operation become deadlier and their demands greater. However, with the government’s new posture and the militants’ olive branch, it is expected that the troubled region will experience peace in no distant future.