The vast wetlands of the Niger Delta region are home to Nigeria's vast oil resources, but are once again at the centre of a security crisis.
The militants or the "boys" are back in the creeks, destroying pipelines, attacking oil installations, and kidnapping workers.
The violence has slashed Nigeria's oil production by a third.
As we snake our way through the mangrove swamps in a speedboat we are entering a world where outsiders are no longer welcome.
With pipelines and a huge oil export terminal on the horizon, every so often we flash by a fishing community with its wooden huts clustered close to rickety, wooden pier.
The chaos here is dealing a serious blow to the Nigerian government who are dependent upon oil sales for most of its revenues. It has also helped push up the global oil price to almost $50 (Ј38) a barrel.
The renewed militancy was triggered late last year by the cash-strapped government's decision to cancel lucrative security contracts and reduce the budget to pay former militants by 70% .
The payments were part of an amnesty programme agreed upon in 2009 that largely ended the previous bout of militancy, which had crippled the oil industry a decade ago.
As part of the agreement, tens of thousands of militants gave up their arms in return for a monthly stipend worth around $400 at the time and the opportunity to retrain as divers, welders and boat builders at colleges overseas.
Critics regarded the deal as little more than a "bribe for peace".
Now with the payments drying up, many fighters with a grievance and a gun feel they have little to lose.
'Taken for granted'
A group called the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) says it is behind a series of attacks including one attack on a pipeline that shut down one of Nigeria's main oil export terminals.
One militant leader, who says he fights alongside the NDA, agreed to meet us.
Commander Johnson Biboye, his pseudonym, told me his group were responsible for several recent attacks. He refused to give more details citing operational security.
He said his men had little choice but to return to militancy.
"You cannot sleep in the creeks and have the mosquitoes sucking your blood and say you're happy," he told me.
"But the government needs to know we've been taken for granted for several years, enough is enough."
Mr Biboye says he has 300 fighters under his command. He denies he is holding the government "hostage" or that he leads a "terrorist" organisation.
"We've are demanding our rights," he said.
"We have been slaves for many years. We are doing this so our communities get developed. We want to control the oil resources".
He called on the government to negotiate sincerely with the militant groups and warned that if they did not the situation would only get "worse".
'Broken promises'
Oil was first discovered in the Niger Delta in the 1950s. It should have been a blessing but many locals see it as a curse.
Thousands of oil spills have ruined fishing grounds, contaminated water supplies, and destroyed croplands.
There have been widespread allegations of corruption, with accusations that politicians and local leaders siphon off cash that should be spent on building schools, hospitals and providing electricity.
Locals also complain that the jobs in the oil industry are frequently given to outsiders.
It is hard to ignore the painful irony that communities lying on top of some of the world's richest oil deposits are mostly living in abject poverty.
"The Niger Delta is the goose that lays the golden egg but never benefits from it," Chief Dan Ekpebide told me as we wandered through the village of Kurutie.
We were there to see the temporary site of the Nigerian Maritime University - the first of its kind in the area.
There were a dozen buildings including a large lecture hall, student dormitories, and an enormous 12m diving tank to be used to train divers how to weld under water.
It was designed to give young people an opportunity and an alternative to a life of militancy.
But there are no staff or students and for Mr Ekpebide it is a symbol of broken government promises.
"We feel seriously neglected. It speaks volumes about how the federal government thinks about the people in Delta," he said.
Like many in this part of the country he expresses anger towards the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Palace in ruins
The largely Christian south of Nigeria warned there could be trouble if President Buhari who is from the predominantly Muslim north of the country, beat Goodluck Jonathan during last year's presidential elections.
The former President was from the Niger Delta and spread his largesse around the region.
The university campus was built by Government Ekpemupolo, a prominent former militant leader turned businessman.
But now Mr Ekpemupolo also known by the alias "Tompolo" is on the run from the authorities accused of massive corruption.
Some Nigerians believe Tompolo is the mastermind behind the recent spate of attacks in the Delta. His supporters deny the accusation.
A short boat ride up the creek, Mr Ekpebide took me to the seat of the traditional Gbaramatu Kingdom, a prominent Ijaw group in the region.
The palace was bombarded during deadly clashes between the army and militants in 2009.
It now lies in ruins: The roofs were ripped off, windows smashed and statues toppled.
Shortly afterwards the amnesty was signed that has largely held until this year.
But Mr Ekpebide told me the palace will not be repaired.
"It is a reminder of what the government did to the people," he said.
Few here are willing to forget the past and the anger felt in the Niger Delta will only divide the country further.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Nigeria Launches $100 Million Oil Fund
Nigeria’s government has launched a special fund worth US$100 million to take care of securing the credit that the oil industry of the country needs. Called a Nigerian Content Intervention Fund, the vehicle will be managed by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board and the Bank of Industry.
Until now, Nigerian oil service companies could benefit from a 50 percent interest rebate on loans from commercial banks plus partial security. These were provided by the Nigeria Content Development Fund, which was launched in 2012.
The Acting Executive Secretary of the NCDMB said the new fund was set up in response to difficulties cited by local oil industry players in obtaining borrowed funds for their operations. Patrick Obah added that the board and the Bank of Industry were dedicated to providing assistance to oil services companies that wanted to create more jobs locally, retain their revenues in-country and add value to the economy.
Nigeria’s oil sector has been deeply troubled by falling oil prices, and more recently, by a long string of attacks on oil production and transport infrastructure. Some of these attacks, though not targeting people, have ended with human casualties. The groups taking responsibility for the attacks have stated that their aim is to redirect a bigger portion of state oil revenues from the capital Lagos to the impoverished region of the Niger Delta, where the country’s oil industry is concentrated.
Just the other day, senior government officials from the two southern provinces of Nigeria urged the central government to revise the oil well ownership regulations in such a way as to give Niger Delta communities a bigger share of the profits. “The people of the Niger Delta region should possess at least 65 percent of the oil wells contrary to the present ownership structure where less than 10 percent of the oil blocks belong to our people,” the legislators said.
Until now, Nigerian oil service companies could benefit from a 50 percent interest rebate on loans from commercial banks plus partial security. These were provided by the Nigeria Content Development Fund, which was launched in 2012.
The Acting Executive Secretary of the NCDMB said the new fund was set up in response to difficulties cited by local oil industry players in obtaining borrowed funds for their operations. Patrick Obah added that the board and the Bank of Industry were dedicated to providing assistance to oil services companies that wanted to create more jobs locally, retain their revenues in-country and add value to the economy.
Nigeria’s oil sector has been deeply troubled by falling oil prices, and more recently, by a long string of attacks on oil production and transport infrastructure. Some of these attacks, though not targeting people, have ended with human casualties. The groups taking responsibility for the attacks have stated that their aim is to redirect a bigger portion of state oil revenues from the capital Lagos to the impoverished region of the Niger Delta, where the country’s oil industry is concentrated.
Just the other day, senior government officials from the two southern provinces of Nigeria urged the central government to revise the oil well ownership regulations in such a way as to give Niger Delta communities a bigger share of the profits. “The people of the Niger Delta region should possess at least 65 percent of the oil wells contrary to the present ownership structure where less than 10 percent of the oil blocks belong to our people,” the legislators said.
Nigerian military claim to have rescued 80 women and children from Boko Haram
Nigeria's missing Chibok schoolgirls are the most well-known among the captives of the Boko Haram militant group, but the Nigerian Islamist insurgency has kidnapped thousands during its seven-year-long reign of terror.
Today, Nigeria's military claimed a success in its effort to reduce that number, after it reportedly freed 80 women and children from a far-flung village in the country's northeast.
The 42 women and 38 children were rescued on Tuesday after soldiers infiltrated a Boko Haram meeting in Gangere village, Army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman told the Associated Press. More than 40 militants were killed in the operation.
Thursday's operation is just the latest military effort to root out the radical Muslim group entrenched in northern Nigeria, forcing more than 2 million people to flee their homes. In the last two years, a ramped-up military campaign has succeeded in pushing Boko Haram from its strongholds, but fighters remain active in Borno state, as well as neighboring countries like Cameroon.
So far this year, the militants have carried out a string of suicide attacks, including at refugee camps, and deadly village raids. Nigeria has claimed to have saved thousands of captives from the group, but often these figures are impossible to verify and critics have accused the military of exaggerating its successes.
More than two years after Boko Haram abducted 200 girls from Chibok school in Borno state in 2014, the military managed to rescue two of the teenage students this spring. The government also secured video footage of the abducted girls, showing proof of life for the first time since they were captured.
Today, Nigeria's military claimed a success in its effort to reduce that number, after it reportedly freed 80 women and children from a far-flung village in the country's northeast.
The 42 women and 38 children were rescued on Tuesday after soldiers infiltrated a Boko Haram meeting in Gangere village, Army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman told the Associated Press. More than 40 militants were killed in the operation.
Thursday's operation is just the latest military effort to root out the radical Muslim group entrenched in northern Nigeria, forcing more than 2 million people to flee their homes. In the last two years, a ramped-up military campaign has succeeded in pushing Boko Haram from its strongholds, but fighters remain active in Borno state, as well as neighboring countries like Cameroon.
So far this year, the militants have carried out a string of suicide attacks, including at refugee camps, and deadly village raids. Nigeria has claimed to have saved thousands of captives from the group, but often these figures are impossible to verify and critics have accused the military of exaggerating its successes.
More than two years after Boko Haram abducted 200 girls from Chibok school in Borno state in 2014, the military managed to rescue two of the teenage students this spring. The government also secured video footage of the abducted girls, showing proof of life for the first time since they were captured.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Video - UN warns 49,000 children at risk of death due to malnutrition in Nigeria
The United Nations Children's Fund has warned a quarter of a million children in north-eastern Nigeria, face severe malnourishment as the humanitarian crisis caused by the Boko Haram deepens. The agency added that an estimated 49,000 children will die if they are not receiving immediate treatment. This is a result of its increase engagement in new areas that requires greater resources.
Oil pipeline bombings causing massive spills in Nigeria
Militants bombed a state-run oil pipeline in southern Nigeria on Monday causing massive spills, in the latest attack on the country's oil infrastructure, said an industry official.
"The pipeline is operated by the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) at Batan near Warri. It was blown up early yesterday (Monday)," a senior official of a major oil firm told AFP Tuesday.
PPMC is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which runs a joint venture with firms such as Anglo-Dutch giant Shell, US firms Chevron and Exxon, Italy's Eni and France's Total.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said the pipeline was repaired only recently after it was bombed last month.
The latest attack had caused "massive spills of crude in the area", said the official who called on the authorities to launch a clean-up.
The NNPC were not immediately available for comment when contacted by AFP.
No group has claimed responsibility but the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has claimed a wave of bombings of oil and gas facilities since the beginning of the year.
The attacks have reduced output at a time when Nigeria is struggling with low global crude prices which have hammered government revenues, weakening the country's naira currency and pushing up inflation to near 11-year highs.
The militants want oil majors to leave the Niger delta, blaming them for contributing to widespread poverty and under-development of the region.
The group also wants self-determination for the oil-producing states in the delta region and political autonomy.
"The pipeline is operated by the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) at Batan near Warri. It was blown up early yesterday (Monday)," a senior official of a major oil firm told AFP Tuesday.
PPMC is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which runs a joint venture with firms such as Anglo-Dutch giant Shell, US firms Chevron and Exxon, Italy's Eni and France's Total.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said the pipeline was repaired only recently after it was bombed last month.
The latest attack had caused "massive spills of crude in the area", said the official who called on the authorities to launch a clean-up.
The NNPC were not immediately available for comment when contacted by AFP.
No group has claimed responsibility but the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has claimed a wave of bombings of oil and gas facilities since the beginning of the year.
The attacks have reduced output at a time when Nigeria is struggling with low global crude prices which have hammered government revenues, weakening the country's naira currency and pushing up inflation to near 11-year highs.
The militants want oil majors to leave the Niger delta, blaming them for contributing to widespread poverty and under-development of the region.
The group also wants self-determination for the oil-producing states in the delta region and political autonomy.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)