EXCEPT the precarious security situation in the Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States improves substantially within the next six months, there may be no expatriates working and resident in these states.
This follows reported plans by oil companies and allied industries to relocate all the expatriates currently in the three states to Lagos and Cross River States within the next six months.
They would then go to the Niger Delta to work through scheduled flights, according to a top official in one of the oil companies.
But undaunted by such a threat, a major militant group in the region, the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), said they could not guarantee cessation of unrest and hostilities in the Niger Delta until the government gave absolute assurance that the wrongs of the past would be corrected.
The oil company’s official stated that: “There is going to be a major pullout of expatriates in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States in the next six months.
“The unrest in the region has taken a criminal dimension. If the situation does not change, there will not be a single expatriate left in these states.”
He said oil companies appreciate the efforts being made by government to tackle the Niger Delta crisis. However, he noted that security analysts commissioned by the oil majors to study the situation, had concluded that all efforts would amount to nothing except the communities themselves were able to guarantee a two-year truce to enable all stakeholders tackle the challenges facing the region.
Other industry sources said the Federal Government power projects in the Niger Delta have been stalled because a major American company assigned to construct some of the turbines is reluctant to allow its personnel travel to the region.
Nonetheless, Cynthia Whyte, spokesperson for the militant group, restated that the current unrest in the Niger Delta was the result of over 50 years neglect of the people by successive governments in the country.
But the JRC offered a life-line: tested and proven indigenes of oil bearing communities should be appointed into positions such as Minister of Energy, Group Managing Director of the NNPC and other related positions.
The group said this would be the first step towards ensuring justice for the people of the Niger Delta and the effective involvement in the management of their resources.