Last Wednesday�s attack by those claiming to be mem-bers of the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND on the BONGA platform operated by Shell Producing Unlimited has signalled a new phase of criminality in the oil producing Niger Delta. This creeping war on Nigeria has been masquerading as a struggle for the betterment of the conditions of the peoples of the region who almost everyone agrees have little to show for the vast wealth that is daily extracted from within their communities. What was unique about Wednesday�s attack is that it happened more than 100 kilometres in the deep offshore and clearly shows that MEND and others like it are prepared to go to any length to incapacitate the Nigerian government and society in the name of their own struggle. How else do you justify an attack in an area that is so far away from any community but is vital to the economic interest of the country?
To any discerning mind this singular act is a clear declaration of war on the Nigerian state and which the country can ignore at its own peril. Even before that attack the manner in which the so called militants have been carrying on shows that they are not keen on any dialogue aimed at addressing the roblems of the region which they claim to champion. Instead they appear keen to carry on as if the writ of the Nigerian government does not extend to the areas where they operate. How else can one consider the way they have been calling for dialogue and then threatening to boycott the summit which the government has called to address the issues they have been raising?
Let it be clear from the outset that this newspaper joins other well meaning Nigerians who consider as unacceptable the seeming neglect and poverty in the oil producing region. And because we want to see a prosperous Niger Delta region, we are in support of the Niger Delta Development Plan which all the stakeholders in the region have bought into. We saw it as a sensible starting point in the long road to better life for the whole region. But we also feel that there is no way that plan can be implemented in an atmosphere where the authority of the Nigerian government is being daily undermined. It is now gradually becoming impossible to execute any project or conduct any business in many areas of the oil producing region without having to pay one gang or the other some protection money. Expatriate oil workers and other businessmen operating in the region know better than to venture any where without armed escort. There is almost exasperation among business people and government officials who operate in the region and who are increasingly baffled by the government�s seeming confusion or indecision on what to do on the Niger Delta crisis.
No country can sit by and watch a group of people however aggrieved continue to defy its authority and willfully undermine its well being. We can understand the dilemma of the government that the aggrieved people are also citizens of the country against whom the country cannot pick a fight which is almost certainly impossible to win.Yet things are beginning to come to a head now that we do not expect the government to just sit by and let its major economic interest being not just indirectly undermined but effectively being dismantled. Nations have been known to go to war when their vital economic interest is being challenged. It is time for the government to separate the genuine concerns of the people of the oil producing region from the activities of those elements that have declared war on their fatherland.
Daily Trust is encouraged to note from the reaction of President Umaru Musa Yar adua that he understands the situation before him and the kind of choices he has to make. For the President�s resolve to have teeth there is the urgent need to equip the armed forces with the necessary hardware for them to effectively protect the vital economic interest of the nation. Operations like the type in which the armed forces are called upon to perform can only be done with items like helicopter gunships, patrol boats, communications equipment and logistic support so that they will not to be sitting ducks for a group that seem keen on rubbishing and demoralising them. It is obvious that a properly equipped force may not necessarily have to fight any battle, especially a battle against one of its own. As we said in our editorial a few weeks earlier on the Niger Delta, the best strategy should address the genuine concerns of the people of the region while taking head on the criminal elements that seek to profit from it at the expense of us all.
Source: Daily Trust Editorial
First Published 23.06.08