THE Federal Government on Thursday opted to �discuss� with the Niger Delta people in place of the summit earlier proposed. Vice President Goodluck Jonathan disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday while briefing newsmen on the outcome of his meeting with the governors and opinion leaders from the nine oil producing states.
He said the change followed the realisation that the word �Summit� had become �problematic.�
�People have misconstrued the summit to mean a jamboree,” he said. Jonathan said that the Presidency would continue to meet with the different interest groups and stakeholders with a view to finding lasting solutions to the problems facing the region.
Jonathan also disclosed that the meeting agreed on the need to set up a committee that would look into the issues and problems facing the Niger Delta region. This, he said, was with a view to compiling them for presentation to President Umar Yar’Adua for possible deliberation.
”We must get to a point and move ahead,” he said. The vice president, however, described the problem in the oil-rich region as a �cancer� which might consume the whole nation if not properly resolved.
�The whole thing is going like a cancer and is going to consume everybody if nothing is done to address the issue,” he said. Jonathan, however, observed that the issue of Niger Delta was not a matter that could be solved overnight. It will be recalled that the crisis in the region had become worrisome to both government and the international community.
Lately, the crisis has led to destruction of oil installations, kidnappings and killings of foreign oil workers and Nigerians by the militants. To tackle the issue, the Federal Government last month appointed Professor Ibrahim Gambari, a diplomat, to head the proposed Niger Delta summit.
Gambari later threw in the towel, citing a spate of criticism over his appointment. British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said on Wednesday that his country was prepared to partner with Nigeria on the security issues in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
Brown spoke during his meeting with the visiting President Yar’Adua. The prime minister also offered to help in checking oil smuggling and corruption in the region. In the meantime, Yar’Adua has confirmed that the United Nations (UN) would retain an advisory role in this process and hinted of plans of a maritime security training centre in the Niger Delta region.
According to Yar’Adua, restoring security in the area could allow Nigeria to provide an additional 1.2 million barrels of oil a day to the global market. Also, militants in the Niger Delta have threatened to start launching attacks on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and some parts of the North.
The planned attacks are in protest by the militants against the pact reportedly signed by Nigeria with Britain on how to contain youth restiveness in the Niger Delta. Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Voluntary Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujaheed Dokubo-Asari, disclosed this in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune on Thursday.
Dokubo-Asari had made the same threat while participating in a current affairs programme aired early in the day by the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS). He said the people of Niger Delta would not wait for the Federal Government to declare a full-scale war on them in partnership with Britain, and so would pre-empt it by declaring war on the North.
�If somebody tells you openly that he is bringing war to your doorstep, you don�t wait for him to do so; you rather act quickly by taking war to his own doorstep.
�If that is what Yar�Adua and the people in Abuja had resolved to do, then, it is better for the militants to start attacking Abuja and other parts of the North. Dokubo-Asari asked Nigeria to query President Yar�Adua on the reason behind the government�s decision to seek the assistance of the G8 in addressing the Niger Delta question, �when, indeed, such interventionist approach in other countries had only succeeded in prompting full scale wars.�
Dokubo-Asari berated the government of President Yar�Adua, saying that the Niger Delta people had come to the conclusion that his tenure had failed, having lost credibility. According to him, �when he first came on board, we accorded him tremendous respect because of the background he was coming from. We gave him our total support.
�We just assumed that he is a gentleman who is a progressive, we respected him more because of the influence of his brother, Shehu, who was a great politician and a progressive, and because he made our brother, Goodluck Jonathan, the vice president.�
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) has shut down its Tebidaba Oil Flow Station in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. This was sequel to Thursday�s attack by the yet to be identified youths from one of the communities in the area.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that the youth invaded the flow station in the early hours of the day, shooting into the air to scare the security operatives attached to the flow station as well as the neighbouring communities.
During the attack, which lasted for several hours, the pipeline conveying crude oil was destroyed, resulting in environmental pollution. On the quantity of the crude oil lost to the attack, an inside source said that this could not be determined, but added that flow station produces 20,000 barrel per day.
This development has forced the company to shut down its operations, though a report had it that production would commence in the next few weeks. Confirming the incident, the Commander of the Joint Military Task Force in Bayelsa State, Lt. Col. Chris Musa, said unknown persons blew up a pipeline around Tebidaba flow station, adding that �we are looking for them.�