Brinksmanship not the answer to Niger Delta restiveness – National Mirror

The increasing restiveness in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s oil rich region, which has resulted in the serial blowing up of major oil and gas pipelines and the premeditated actions leading to the collapse of the national grid, could unnerve a leader that takes his or her responsibilities very seriously.
Indeed, President Muhammadu Buhari was in such sour mood in faraway China during his recent state visit, when he got reports of the activities of militants in the region that were inimical to the economic health of the country.
Reacting to the development, the President had said: “The government is still being dared, but those who are sensible should have learnt a lesson. Those who are mad, let them continue in their madness. I am aware that in the last two weeks, the national grid collapsed a number of times. I hope this message will reach the vandals and saboteurs who are blowing up pipelines and installations. We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram.”
Niger Delta groups and individuals in and outside the region took strong exception to the President’s statement. The Niger Delta Avengers, a new militant group in the region, responding to the threat by Buhari, threatened acts of sabotage against the country’s economy, particularly in the oil sector. “We are not deterred by such threats as we are highly spirited and shall continue blowing up pipelines until the Niger Delta people are no longer marginalized by the Nigerian actors”, added the militant group.
This newspaper considers this new development scary and one that all discerning Nigerians and groups must move in to quell in order to prevent another relapse into anarchy in the region. Nigeria cannot afford another unproductive confrontation between the Federal Government and some renegade militants in the region, especially at this time of debilitating economic recession occasioned by a drastic fall in the price of crude oil, Nigeria’s major foreign exchange earner.
The new challenge should be seen as a test of President Buhari’s statesmanship. What is demanded now is circumspection, not brinksmanship. The resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta region began last January when oil installations were targets of concerted bomb attacks by some renegades. Blown up were major crude oil and gas pipelines to the Chevron Nigeria Limited’s Tank Farm in Warri South West Local Government Area; the main crude line from Makaraba through Otunana and Abiteye to Escravos; the Olero to Escravos gas line; and the Nigeria Gas Company owned Escravos-Warri-Abuja- Lagos pipelines. The Forcados Terminal pipeline was also not spared. Niger Delta Avengers and groups loyal to High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, one of the ex-warlords, were fingered in the serial operations. The ex-warlord, however, denied his involvement.
That Nigeria has had to confront this monster of economic terrorism again at a time the lethality of Boko Haram-induced insurgency in the North-East region of the country is abating, while facing the challenge from the monstrous activities of Fulani herdsmen is very unfortunate. What it means is that Nigeria will be fighting security challenges from many fronts.
The administration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua invested heavily in the Amnesty Programme that brought and sustained peace in the Niger Delta region. This high sacrifice made by the nation should not be rubbished by the prospect of a long drawn out confrontation that will do us no good. President Buhari should take measured and tempered steps to douse the rising tension in the region.
At its peak in 2009, Niger Delta insurgency reportedly cut Nigeria’s oil output by over 50 percent and cost her about N4 billion daily in counter-insurgency operations. President Goodluck Jonathan’s faithful implementation of the Yar’Adua administration’s new deal, which consumed between N70 billion and N86 billion annually from 2010 to 2015, sufficiently pacified the region.
It will be a pity for the nation if President Buhari is not able to consolidate the gains of the Amnesty Programme. For now, a carrot-and-stick approach by the Federal Government appears the most pragmatic for resolving the lingering logjam in the Niger Delta region. A sincere reappraisal of the Amnesty Programme to make it more functional has become imperative. One of such confidence building measures was the statement credited to the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, General Paul Boroh (retd.), when he said at an event organized by Ijaw Monitoring Group in Lagos in honour of the late Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha that the President had resolved to meet the expectations of Niger Deltans. The extension of the Amnesty Programme beyond the projected era, he told the audience, was on the card.
One other tricky issue the FG should address fast is the lot of the unemployed 150, 000 ex-militants trained locally and abroad. They remain a security threat in the region. For the on-going economic terrorism in the region, painstaking investigation is what is needed to sift the wheat from the chaff. There is no doubt, the attacks by the renegade militants in the region are a shot in the heart of the nation and a test of will for the Buhari administration. However, circumspection and not brinksmanship is what is needed now to arrest the challenge.