Reports that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) or its contractors might be paying Niger Delta militants to protect its facilities have strengthened the belief that President Yar�adua may lack the political will to deal decisively with the festering insurgency in that oil-rich region.
In view of the president�s connections with the region�s ruling elites, he must be under immense pressure to pacify it and has indeed often repeated the pledge of previous governments to alleviate the people�s needs and develop their impoverished and polluted villages. The oil industry has for this reason been encouraged to employ local youths wherever possible and has long engaged them as vigilantes to watch over and protect pipelines from attack by militants and crude oil thieves. As the fine line between Niger Delta militancy and criminality becomes increasingly blurred however, the vigilantes have lately come under immense pressure to renege on their allegiance on pain of being branded “traitors to the people�s cause.” Some militant groups have even vowed to intensify their attacks on oil facilities to prove that they had not “sold their birthright to the government for a bowl of porridge.”
There is no doubt that oil production has fuelled the complex social contradictions in Nigeria. There is the antagonism between our national interests and those of the oil multinationals which derives from the strategic importance of oil for modern production and civilised lifestyle, but plays out on levels that have little direct impact on our daily life. On the other hand the large revenues that accrue to the state from the oil corporations� rents are crucial to the accumulation process in our underdeveloped economy and have invariably led to struggles for control of state power. A diversity of vested interests has therefore manipulated the perception that the Niger Delta people constitute an exploited underclass of toilers and consumers to stoke an insurgency against the Nigerian state and its corporate allies. This perception is potentially explosive however precisely because it pervades the consciousness of the broad masses of Nigeria to a greater or lesser degree. Previous administrations might occasionally have persuaded Niger Delta militant groups to lay down their weapons for a consideration, a strategy known locally as “settling the boys,” but we caution the president against emulating such precedents. For while it may be true that militant attacks have cut Nigeria�s crude oil exports by a fifth since early 2006 and helped to push global energy prices to record levels, we are not persuaded that the government should be doing business with people in active rebellion against the state.
Given the extent to which corruption now appears to have smitten the soul of our oil industry however, most especially as militants have begun to trade allegations with members of the military Joint Task Force and officials of NNPC, the presidency, and state governments in the region about stakes in a protection racket, we consider it auspicious for the president to pull out all the stops and deal decisively with the cancerous insurgency before it consumes the whole country. What we recommend is the appointment of a panel of respected Nigerian and foreign personages of suitable backgrounds, in which the International Criminal Court could be represented, to hear out those implicated in the conflict in any capacity whatsoever � insurrection, oil bunkering, kidnapping, gun-running, bribery, etc. – who might wish to unburden their conscience within a specified timeframe on the assurance of immunity from further prosecution. Those that fail to seize the opportunity could then face indictment for economic sabotage, treason, or otherwise aiding or abetting an insurrection against the Nigerian state. What is crucial, in our view, is to defeat the insurgency without undermining the rights and privileges of the Niger Delta people as bona fide Nigerian citizens. This can be accomplished by simultaneously acknowledging and addressing the people�s legitimate grievances while single-mindedly dealing with those exploiting them for financial or political gain.