Niger Delta Avengers don't want to negotiate with government

A militant group in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta region says it will not negotiate with the government and has continued to blow up oil pipelines.

Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said on Monday that the government was ready to begin a dialogue with stakeholders in the Niger Delta, a region which suffered an insurgency during the mid-2000s by militants who claimed that the country’s oil wealth was not being fairly distributed. “I want to call on the militants to sheath their weapons and embrace dialogue with the government,” said Kachikwu, who also indicated that the Nigerian military would suspend its operations in the Niger Delta.

The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), which has carried out a spate of attacks on oil infrastructure since February, announced early on Wednesday that it was not involved in any negotiations. “We’re not negotiating with any committee. If [the federal government] is discussing with any group they’re doing that on their own,” said the group via its Twitter feed.

The group continued its campaign of attacking oil pipelines, claiming to have blown up an oil platform run by U.S. company Chevron early on Wednesday in Warri, Delta state, southern Nigeria. The attack was confirmed to Reuters by a local community chief, although Chevron declined to comment.

A senior officer in the Nigerian Army confirmed on Wednesday that it was observing a two-week ceasefire in the Niger Delta, though warned that military operations could resume if the militants did not respond to requests for dialogue. “The two-week ceasefire was such that all military operations in the region were supposed to stop to enable government to apply the non-kinetic means of reaching out to the militants,” said Ibrahim Attahiru, a major-general in the Nigerian Army, according to Nigeria’s Premium Times. “Now the militants have resorted to continue with the attacks on pipelines, we will tarry for a while and if this does not stop, we will decisively act wherever it is necessary.”

The NDA launched its first attack in February, blowing up an underwater pipeline at the Forcados terminal operated by Shell. The group appears to have links with the pro-Biafran movement, which is campaigning for the secession of Biafra in southeast Nigeria. Biafra existed as an independent republic between 1967 and 1970 before being reintegrated into Nigeria. The NDA has also disavowed links with the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a militant group that led the mid-2000s insurgency in the Niger Delta. The insurgency only came to an end following the introduction of a presidential amnesty program in 2009.

Nigeria’s oil output has dropped from 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) at the start of 2016 to between 1.5 million and 1.6 million bpd, Kachikwu said. Nigeria’s economy is heavily dependent on the oil and gas sector and the country has now fallen behind Angola as Africa’s biggest oil producer.

Newsweek

Video - Tomato disease leads to factories closing in Nigeria

Nigeria is still battling to control a tomato disease that is ravaging farms. The illness called Tuta Absoluta, has led to severe shortages of the much loved vegetable. Processing plants have been shut down and tomato prices have soared. CCTV's Deji Badmus travelled to the North-western Kaduna state to see how deep the crisis runs.

Video - Nigeria to become a nuclear power

Hadassah Egbedi for Ventures Africa reports The ATOMEXPO 2016 International Forum in Moscow, the largest meeting of world leaders and experts on nuclear power, three African countries, Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Russia on nuclear energy.

Nigeria to scale down military offensive in the Niger Delta

Nigeria will scale down a military campaign in the oil-producing Niger Delta and talk to the Niger Delta Avengers militant group which has claimed a string of attacks there that sharply cut crude output, officials said.

But the militant group said in a statement, without mentioning the government initiative, its mandate was "to liberate the Niger Delta people."

The government has also decided that the military presence in the region, which had been increased in the last few weeks, should be scaled down, a statement issued by the vice president's office said on Tuesday.

The southern Delta swamps, where many complain of poverty and oil spills, have been hit by militant attacks on oil and gas pipelines which have brought Nigeria's oil output to a 20-year low, and helped push oil prices to 2016 highs on Tuesday. [O/R]

President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed a team led by the national security adviser "to begin the process of a very intensive dialogue with those caught in the middle of this," Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said late on Monday.

"I want to call on the militants to sheath their weapons and embrace dialogue with government," he said. "We are making contacts with everybody who is involved, the ones that we can identify, through them, the ones that we can't identify so that there is a lot more inclusiveness in this dialogue."

"Probably we will suspend the operations of the military in the region for a week or two for individuals in the creeks to converge for the dialogue," he said.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who had been expected to travel to London to meet investors on Tuesday, instead met Niger Delta state governors and military chiefs to discuss ways to end the militancy.

A statement from Osinbajo's office said it had been decided at the meeting that the military presence in the region should be "de-escalated," although forces would be kept to provide security for the talks.

Adding to the problems of authorities trying to stem the violence, a group in the southeast calling for secession declared support for the Avengers.

"We support the Niger Delta Avengers," said Uche Madu, a spokesman for the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) which wants secession for the region which fought a civil war from 1967-70.

A former militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which laid down arms in 2009 under a government amnesty, accused the army of a "disproportionate use of force."

MEND, which was one of the largest militant groups, also said the Delta Avengers had attracted some of its former fighters. So far it has been unclear who is behind the Avengers.

There was no immediate direct response from the Avengers on the dialogue initiative. On its Twitter account it only issued a statement framing MEND leaders as criminals.

"Our struggle is focused on the liberation of the People of Niger Delta from decades of divisive rule and exclusion," it said.

Kachikwu also said Nigeria's oil output was between 1.5 million and 1.6 million barrels a day, down from 2.2 million barrels at the start of the year.

"Over the last two months, we have probably lost about 600,000 barrels from various attacks of militants in the area," he said.

Reuters

Related story: Nigeria's new militants - The Niger Delta Avengers

President Buhari 'broke promise to end medical tourism'

A leading Nigerian doctor has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of reneging on a promise to end "medical tourism" by seeking treatment in the UK.

Nigerians spent $1bn (Ј690m) on foreign medical trips in 2013, most of which was unnecessary, said Dr Osahon Enabulele.

Nigerian politicians were mostly treated by Nigerian doctors in the UK, he added.

Mr Buhari flew to London on Monday to be treated for an ear infection.

It is unclear where the 73-year-old would be treated for what his office described as a "persistent" infection.

Dr Enabulele, vice-president of the Commonwealth Medical Association, said it was a "national shame" that Mr Buhari went to the UK for treatment when Nigeria had more than 250 ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists, as well as a National Ear Centre.

Mr Buhari should lead by example by using Nigerian doctors and facilities, and ensure government officials do not go abroad on "frivolous" medical trips, he added.

The UK had more than 3,000 Nigerian-trained doctors, and the US more than 5,000, Dr Enabule said, accusing the government of failing to address the brain drain by improving working conditions and health centres.

Mr Buhari, in a speech delivered on his behalf to the Nigeria Medical Association in April, said the government's hard-earned cash would not be spent on treating officials overseas, especially when Nigeria had the expertise.

Nigeria is one of Africa's biggest oil producers but most of its citizens live in poverty.

Mr Buhari took office last year on a promise to tackle corruption and waste.

BBC