The meeting was serious, the issues weighty. From the United States of America to the United Kingdom, the concern has been expressed about the increasing volatility in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
The concern for the unstable situation in the region led to the inauguration last year of the Gulf of Guinea Energy Security Strategy (GGESS), an initiative of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The objective of the initiative is to achieve security of energy supply in the Gulf of Guinea region while promoting sustainable development of the Niger Delta in a climate of peace.
In other to make this possible, the government is building strong partnerships with a number of foreign governments to co-operate in a co-ordinated effort to stamp out oil theft, illegal small arms dealings and money laundering with particular emphasis on the Niger Delta.
Meetings are held quarterly to review developments in the Gulf of Guinea areas. The first meeting was held in Washington and since then it has been rotated among member-countries. The first meeting was held to sell the idea to foreign countries. Britain joined after the US to widen the multilateral base. On Wednesday last week, the group met in Nigeria for the first time. The meeting was held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja. Three states in the Niger Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta, were invited to attend as observers. In addition, Canada, Norway, Netherlands and Switzerland attended as observers.
The group used the opportunity of the meeting to visit Obasanjo. At the visit, Engr. Funsho Kupolokun, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), who is presidential envoy to GGESS, briefed Obasanjo on what the group had done so far.
On oil theft, Kupolokun told Obasanjo: “We have identified the need to create and mobilise global industry-wide initiative to crack down on stolen crude oil by authenticating sources of crude oil sold internationally through fingerprinting of crude oil and tagging of vessels transporting legal crude oil.”
In this regard, Kupolokun said, the United States and United Kingdom had offered to put diplomatic pressure on ship owners, flagging nations and countries identified as recipients of illegal cargoes with Nigeria requested to provide relevant data to support the effort.
Concerning small arms control and maritime security, Kupolokun said the GGESS was working with the Nigerian military to equip and upgrade the amphibious capacity of the Joint Task Force. In this regard, he said, a reconnaissance team from the US and UK would visit Nigeria this month to, in collaboration with the Nigerian military, assess the requirements of the three amphibious brigades on concepts, types of training in order to identify areas of need.
The presidential envoy said the American government had invited Nigeria to participate in the Experimental Programme for Maritime Domain Awareness. He noted that already, a US team made up of computer and radar personnel visited Nigeria and held talks with the Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Safety and Security (PICOMMS).
According to Kupolokun, Nigerian security personnel involved in reviewing seized weapons were to be trained on types of data required for analysis to enhance capacity building and maintenance capability while agreement has been reached on the need for communication and information exchange on sources of illegal weapons to stem their inflow.
On the issue of money laundering, the presidential envoy said the US, UK and the World Bank were supporting the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other relevant agencies through local and international training of officials on investigation and prosecution on money laundering and related crimes.
He informed the group that the Financial Action Task Force visited Nigeria from May 9 to 11 to assess the country’s level of compliance to anti-money laundering/counter terrorist financing (AML/CFT). Kupolokun said based on their recommendation, Nigeria was delisted from list of non-cooperative countries on June 23.
He said the member-countries of GGESS hoped to exchange information and intelligence to track sources of illegal funds and their perpetrators and were willing to assist with prosecution in jurisdiction outside Nigeria.
In relation to community development, Kupolokun said the group has been cooperating with the Rivers State Sustainable Development Programme (RSSDP). He said the Rivers initiative was based on the coordination of efforts and resources of the various stakeholders so as to integrate them with on-going development activities of the state government.
To ensure effective programme implementation, Kupolokun said GGESS was partnering with RSSDP to use the World Bank training school to build capacity in procurement and financial management systems.
In her speech, Mrs. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, American Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, who responded on behalf of the international partners, commended Obasanjo for initiating the GGESS.
She said the United States was eager to help Nigeria address security challenges in the Niger Delta through offshore surveillance and interdiction.
She said in taking practical step to combat oil theft, the US would propose raising industry awareness, tightening bills of lading and supporting surveillance under the US proposed Niger Delta security initiative.
She declared: “We welcome the government of Nigeria’s commitment to unify various development initiatives in the Niger Delta into one regional strategy. Since last November, we have had series of fruitful discussions on what needs to be done, and how. The good news is that we have been presented a ‘homegrown’ model that incorporates all of our shared objectives. Now is the time for action and implementation in a sustainable and transparent manner. We are confident in the talents, abilities, and statesmanship of Nigerians of Nigerians to take ownership of this process.”
The communiqu� that came out of the meeting was short and sharp. It only noted that: “The delegation briefed and were addressed by President Obasanjo who said he found it ‘heartwarming that today the US and UK are partnering with Nigeria to devise and implement strategies to drive the laudable objectives of the Gulf of Guinea Energy Security.’
The United States and UK as the inaugural international partners in this initiative have reaffirmed their commitment to a range of significant steps designed to reduce oil theft; money laundering and illegal small arms trafficking that have fuelled conflict in the Niger Delta.
At the session with journalists, which took place after the meeting, a question was raised as to why the three Niger Delta governors were invited considering that security falls within the exclusive legislative list.
In his reply, Governor Goodluck Jonathan of Bayelsa State, said the three states were invited as observers because the governors were the chief security officers of their respective states and the fact that poverty was part of what caused kidnapping.
The other issue had to do with what would happen to the Gulf of Guinea after the resolution of the Middle East crisis.
In response, Kupolokun, said: the “Gulf of Guinea is peaceful, the oil is sweet. Everybody will find something in the Gulf of Guinea with or without the Middle East crisis.”
Thomas-Greenfield added that the bilateral relationship between Nigeria and the US was beyond oil and gas. She said for instance that there were more than one million US citizens of Nigerian origin. “Whatever the ups and downs of oil in the Middle East, there will still be demand for Nigerian oil and gas.”
Mr. Richard Gozney, British High Commissioner to Nigeria, said the British government would still depend on Nigeria’s oil for 10 per cent of its energy needs till the end of this decade.
The next meeting of GGESS slated for later this year in Nigeria may take place in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.