Niger Delta militants are flexing their muscles again. A fortnight ago, they bombed oil and gas pipelines belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Nigerian Gas Company in Escravos, Delta State. Tension is dangerously high in Gbaramatu and the surrounding communities as the military move in to secure the oil assets. The Federal Government must go on an all-out offensive against the militants before the dastardly act gains ground again.
The militants struck an instant blow in the heart of the Nigerian economy. A few days after the bombings, the NNPC shut down the refineries in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and Kaduna, Kaduna State. Gas supply to the power plants and manufacturers was also disrupted. The renewed militancy is a sign that the peace in the Niger Delta is fragile. Yet, the coincidence with the resolve of the Federal Government to bring corrupt people to justice cannot be completely ignored. But the vandalism of oil facilities is a criminal act, which the nation must be prepared to confront head-on, using its authority and the law before it escalates.
The incidents in the Niger Delta are re-emerging at a time of national economic distress. Oil income, the major source of Nigeria’s national revenues, has plunged by 60 per cent. A barrel of crude oil, which went for an average of $100 early in 2014, sold for $32.32 on Thursday. As a result, state governments cannot pay workers’ salaries, while the naira is taking a serious beating from the major international currencies. The N6.08 trillion 2016 budget outlay, with an oil benchmark of $38 per barrel, is consequently threatened. If the vandalism is not stopped, funding the budget will be tough as it is predicated on a daily production of 2.2 million barrels.
Media reports stated that the militants operated for three consecutive days, inflicting colossal damage on oil facilities. The loss covers the production of 160 million score of cubic feet of gas per day, and the power generation of 700 megawatts capacity being forfeited because of the disruption to power plants. The Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing said the disruption is costing the economy N470 million daily. This is a huge loss. “(The) repairs of the damaged pipelines are estimated to cost $609,137 or N120,000,000,” the ministry said. Some cement companies in Ogun State have also suffered interruption of their operations because of the loss of gas supply.
Thus, the action of the militants must be seen in the light of economic sabotage. For one, Nigeria’s efforts at reducing the importation of refined petroleum products and saving foreign exchange have been grossly undermined. Before the closure of the partially resuscitated refineries, PH was producing 4.1 million litres of petrol daily; Kaduna was churning out 1.3 million litres. This has been halted prematurely. The government cannot downplay this brigandage. It should change the approach of accommodating the excesses of criminals who are parading themselves as ethnic champions in any part of the country. By using intelligence and technology, the security forces should hunt down the criminals and their sponsors, and punish them as a deterrent.
Although the nation got a relief in 2009 when the late President Umaru Yar’Adua granted amnesty, rehabilitation and education to militants in return for the surrender of their weapons, Nigeria has suffered serious losses to militancy. Prior to the militant violence, decades of agitation in the Niger Delta had moved the government to approve 13 per cent derivation formula for the oil-producing states. While the amnesty programme worked initially, it did not totally eradicate vandalism in the region. The last administration headed by Goodluck Jonathan empowered some of the major militants through the backdoor with lucrative contracts. In a striking case, militants threatened violence early last year at the Government House in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, if Jonathan was not returned as the president in the 2015 elections. Even the O’odua Peoples Congress, a Yoruba militia, secured a government contract to protect the oil assets.
Thus, the militants became a “military force” within the Nigerian military. The effect? They controlled vast swathes of the Nigerian creeks, kidnapped people for huge ransoms and fuelled election violence in the service of crooked politicians. The records of the Power Ministry show that from December 2014 to February 2015, the vandals destroyed the Trans Forcados Pipeline (in Delta) and the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System, leading to a loss of gas supply. The NGC calculated that it lost N8.04 billion in the process. Now that they have lost the dubious contracts Jonathan gave them and their influence over Abuja, some militants may have returned to their criminal ways.
President Muhammadu Buhari should arrest the escalating violence in the region. The government should not create the impression that the Niger Delta militants are more powerful than the Nigerian state. It should deploy the state power against the hoodlums holding the country to ransom by their subversive acts because crime thrives when there is no punishment. Abuja should reform the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Ministry of Niger Delta by flushing out corrupt officials so as to deliver on their mandates.
