President Olusegun Obasanjo last Tuesday announced plans to recruit over 20,000 indigenes of the Niger Delta into the military, police, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and as teachers in the next three months.
The measure is part of a nine-point agenda he tabled in Abuja at the stormy inauguration of the Council on Socio-Economic Development of the Coastal States of the Niger Delta, which he chairs.
The President promised to personally commission the N230billion East-West Road that runs through Port-Harcourt-Mbiama-Warri, and Port Harcourt-Eket-Oron. He warned the youth against preventing the contractors from doing the job.
Regardless, the militants in the region on Wednesday scoffed at the offer and reiterated their demands, which Abuja thinks are ridiculous and is unwilling to grant.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) threatened more attacks on oil installations with fears that the guys will play host to more oil workers.
Reports say the militants killed two civilians in a car bomb attack on an army barracks in the southern city of Port Harcourt, extending a four-month onslaught against the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose attacks have cut Nigerian oil exports by a quarter, said in an e-mail that they detonated 30 kg (66 lb) of dynamite using a cellular telephone on Wednesday night.
The use of the car bomb was unusual, and the militants threatened to stage more such attacks on the military, oil installations and individuals.
“There was an explosion at 7.30 yesterday which resulted in the death of two persons and six people were injured,” Brigadier General Samuel Salihu reportedly told a news conference on Thursday.
MEND, which has demanded more local autonomy over the Niger Delta’s oil wealth, said the bomb had been concealed in a Mercedes Benz. The explosion blew the car 20 meters from its original site, on the side of a road in the Bori Camp barracks.
Other demands include the release of incarcerated Ijaw leaders, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and former governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the former charged with treason and for concealing ammunition.
MEND said the attack was “symbolic rather than strategic” and served as a warning that the military was unable to protect itself, let alone workers at oilfields dotted around the vast maze of mangrove-lined creeks in Nigeria’s far South.
The Wednesday�s attack followed a four-month campaign of sabotage and kidnapping against the Nigerian state, forcing companies to cut production by 550,000 barrels per day and helping drive world oil prices to record highs.
It released the last of its Western oil worker hostages in March after holding two Americans and a Briton for five weeks.
The militants have warned all oil workers to leave the Delta and vowed to halt exports completely.
Abuja has accused MEND of involvement in a lucrative trade in stolen crude oil, branding it �rascals�.
But its demands — which also include the release of two jailed leaders from the region and compensation for oil spills — are shared by many activists in the area, where most people live in poverty despite the riches being pumped from their land.
“In the coming weeks, we will carry out similar attacks against relevant oil industry targets and individuals,” MEND said in an email.
Prominent leaders of the Ijaw tribe, who have taken advantage of the crisis to make separate demands, would also be targeted in these attacks, MEND reportedly added.
Analysts link the violence to uncertainty ahead of next year’s presidential election. Different tribal and regional groups believe its their turn to rule multi-ethnic Nigeria after eight years of Obasanjo, a Yoruba from the Southwest. These hopefuls have been infuriated by a powerful campaign to amend the constitution to allow Obasanjo to stay in power for a third consecutive term.
MEND few weeks back threatened attack on some Niger Delta leaders and governors whom it accused of complicity and of selling the region�s destiny to the Nigerian state.
�What we have demanded is the control of our resources, which the Nigerian government has so far ignored. At a time of our choosing, we will resume our attacks with greater devastation and no compassion on those who choose to disregard our warnings,� MEND said.