Nigeria will tap on US security expertise to tackle the crisis in the volatile southern oil-producing Niger Delta, Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia said on Friday.
He spoke as Nigeria, the United States’ fifth largest source of crude, created four special panels to liaise with Washington on energy, security, good governance and agriculture.
The working group on security will “determine how best to use experience, expertise and resources available to both partners to ensure the success of Nigeria’s post amnesty programme,” said Ajumogobia.
“A volatile and unstable Niger Delta will cause higher pump prices and energy cost in the United States and around the world. The mutual benefit is clear,” said Ajumogobia.
For more than three years, armed groups in the Niger Delta have waged violent attacks against the country’s oil installations, severely slashing output in the world’s eighth largest crude exporter.
Under an amnesty offer pushed through by President Umaru Yar’Adua before he took ill last year, the former rebels laid down their arms on promises of jobs and cash, but many say months on, the pledges have not been kept.
It is expected that the panel will also help enhance stability and maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea region.
Nigeria and the US early this month entered into a “strategic partnership” deal to bolster bilateral ties on energy, regional security and good governance, making Nigeria the first African nation to be afforded such a status under the Barack Obama administration.
The west African country is the United States’ largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa, thanks in large part to its petroleum industry. Nigerian oil comprises eight percent of US imports, while about half of the oil produced in Nigeria goes to the United States.
Petroleum is Nigeria’s greatest export, accounting for over 90 percent of exchange earnings.