MILITARISATION OF THE NIGER DELTA

The news that security forces will takeover the Niger Delta region as the solution to the oil theft menace is not right. The Presidential directive as relayed by the  Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, along with all the Service Chiefs including the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, comes across as a President that is misinformed of what is going on in the region. The security forces will be seen as occupier forces and it is indeed a recipe for disaster for the Nigerian economy if the forces do not conduct themselves within the ambit of standard operational procedures. The way the security forces conduct themselves in the region will determine the reaction of the people. The elderly and the innocent ones should not be made to suffer undue consequences of what they know nothing about. The people should not be used as cannon fodder. 

If we want to go deeper some mischief is at play here. The mischief is that some people are trying to cover up their incompetence and failures in meeting the three million barrels of oil they promised nine years ago when they were appointed to take charge of the NNPC. A few days ago the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination and Head, Central Delivery Coordination took a swipe on the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari for the flip-flops in the oil industry. The truth is that there are no new investments in the oil sector for over two decades; it is not the unlicensed refineries operators that are responsible for this dearth in the oil industry, it is not the unlicensed refineries operations that is the reason for Nigeria’s inability to meet its OPEC quota. The truth is that the oil industry has grossly been mismanaged by the present leadership, and all of its subsidiaries as a result of corruption. So this fire brigade approach of deploying security forces to the region won’t solve anything, it is a face-saving measure put up as though some persons are working.

Why we are not making a case to absolve the communities, 

there has been, over time, mismanagement of resources that hitherto would have been deployed to the development of these communities. The people have become disenchanted, hopelessness is rife as many years of neglect have taken a toll on the people. Therefore they have ceased to care about the destruction of Oil infrastructure in their domain. We cannot take our eyes off the activities happening in the high seas; and also in the crude oil terminals. 

We as the Community Development Committees of Niger Delta Oil and Gas Producing Areas (CDC) have made concerted efforts to proffer a near-fool-proof strategy to reducing to the barest minimum oil theft. Save for some government agencies that have bought into our strategies, the real critical stakeholders are pushing back on the CDC for reasons best known to them. Perhaps the CDC strategy is seen as a solution that will put them out of business but we will continue to push until the government listens to us. We have said many times that bombing is not the solution as there has been many more breaches and construction of many new refining outlets. 

We must begin to talk with these unlicensed refinery operators and provide alternative incentives to make them look away. The CDC leadership has taken the responsibility to engage with many of the operators and we have made significant progress even when many of them are skeptical of government keeping to their own side of whatever bargains are reached. So there is a trust issue but we keep assuring them that they will be treated fairly by the President Bola Tinubu’s government. Therefore the CDC leadership is appealing to the federal government to partner with the CDC to bring about a drastic cut of oil theft. 

Joseph Ambakederimo, 

BoT Chairman, CDC, Warri