The Nigerian government has ordered the
immediate withdrawal of troops from communities
in the Niger Delta region, amidallegations of a
heavy-handed military response to renewed attacks
on oil and gasinstallations in the area.
immediate withdrawal of troops from communities
in the Niger Delta region, amidallegations of a
heavy-handed military response to renewed attacks
on oil and gasinstallations in the area.
A new group called the Niger Delta Avengers has
declared war on the installations, vowing to ground
Nigeria’s oil production.
The group, which says it wants a sovereign state of
the Niger Delta, has attacked several facilities in
recent weeks, cutting oiland gas production and
forcing oil companies to shut some export
terminals.
Residents of the area have however complained of
harassment and indiscriminate arrests by soldiers
hunting the militants.
The government said it was withdrawing troops
immediately. Soldiers will continue to patrol the
waterways.
The decision was taken at a meeting between Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo, governors from states in
the Niger Delta region, some ministers and service
chiefs.
The minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu,
had on Monday announced that President
Muhammadu Buhari had directed a two-week
cessation of military offensive in the Niger Delta
region, to enable the government dialogue with the
militants.
Speaking to journalists after Tuesday’s meeting,
Delta state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, said, “We have
also agreed that there is a need to distill military
operations directly in communities, but the military
need to actually remain on our waterways to ensure
that we adequately man the waterways itself while
we engage the communities and that engagement
processis starting any moment from now”.
Mr. Okowa said during the meeting they received
briefings on the current state of things and agreed
that a synergy, especiallyin a form of intelligence
sharing, between the Federal Government and the
States would help in tackling the problem.
“We have taken a lot of decisions which will help
us mitigate what is going on currently in the states
particularly Bayelsa and Delta.
“One of such is that there is a need for us to share
intelligence which is very important and for us to be
proactive, working together with the various
stakeholders in the states to achieve a better
resultgoing forward,” he said.
He said the decision of withdrawing the troops took
was to begin immediately.
Others at the meeting include the governors of Edo,
Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Ondo and Rivers State. The
deputy governor of Cross River State also attended
the meeting. All service chiefs, ministers of Niger
Delta, Petroleum (state) and Defence were also in
attendance.
The Edo state governor, Mr. Oshiomhole, told
journalists that Nigeria was not at war as the
government was ready to address the conflict.
“If we have conflicts, we will talk through those
conflicts. There are laws that have to be enforced. I
think that in all of these the whole idea is to find
peace that is functional, that creates an environment
for very decent Nigerians to live their lives,” he
said.
