Hard times now await hostage takers and pipeline vandals in Bayelsa State, as the Goodluck Jonathan administration has vowed to deal decisively with anyone caught in the act.
It sounded the warning on Monday just as it resolved that a special fund would be provided for all communities hosting facilities of multinational oil companies to enhance development.
These were contained in a 10-point communiqu� issued after a one-day consultative meeting organised by the state government with representatives of core oil-bearing communities in Yenagoa.
The meeting came on the heels of the rash in kidnapping of oil workers and shutting down of flow stations in oil-bearing communities across the state.
The state governor presided over the meeting, which also had in attendance his deputy, Peremobowei Ebebi, Secretary to the State Government, Boladei Igali, traditional rulers, youth and women groups.
Igali, who read the communiqu� to journalists shortly after the five-hour meeting, stressed the need for the oil firms to respect and ensure the implementation of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with host communities to prevent conflicts, which usually led to loss of lives.
The government also urged security operatives guarding oil facilities to exercise restraint in the handling of agitation by youths to avoid possible outbreak of law and order.
It resolved that oil firms operating in the state should have functional offices in the state to enable them understand and come to terms with realities faced by the inhabitants in areas of their operation.
“The federal, state and local governments should partner the relevant stakeholders in all oil-bearing communities in the Niger Delta to identify specific problems of the people with a view to solving them even as it is agreed that women should be carried along and empowered for them to make reasonable input in the development of the state,” the communiqu� noted.
Jonathan had earlier read a riot act that any traditional ruler involved in hostage taking in the state should be prosecuted and sent to life imprisonment.
He said his administration would sponsor a Bill that would prescribe punishable offences for hostage taking and pipeline vandalism.
The youths, who made various contributions at the meeting, called on the governor to dissolve his cabinet, saying some of the members were linked with hostage taking in the state