MILITANT group the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) have succumbed to pressure and agreed to enter into dialogue with the federal government on the condition that international oil companies operating in the region agree to independent mediators handling the talks.
Over recent months, the NDA has stepped up its campaign of militancy in the Niger Delta, blowing up oil pipelines and installations, cutting Nigeria's output to 1.6m barrels a day from 2.2m barrels a day. They have rebuffed all government offers to enter into talks, insisting that their campaign will continue unabated.
This week, however, it appears that the NDA has finally relented and agreed to conditional talks due to constant pressure through backdoor channels initiated by petroleum minister of state Ibe Kachikwu. Apparently the NDA has said it was ready to discuss its grievances with the government so long as the mediators were foreign as that was the only way it could have confidence in any talks.
National security adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno, who will lead a team of federal government negotiators, is mandated to reach out to the militants and other stakeholders in the region. He has been charged with finding a way to end the violence that had adversely affected oil production output of the country.
Only yesterday, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, said it had lost N60bn in three months, owing to the break in its Forcados pipeline bombed by the NDA. This NPDC loss is only a part of the general shortfall in the nation’s overall revenue loss manifested in the shut-in of over 800,000 barrels per day since the NDA hostilities began in February.
Mudock Agbinibo, the NDA spokesperson, said the group would agree to a ceasefire to enable it discuss with the federal government’s team. It, however, demanded absolute sincerity on the part of government, warning that it would not allow the discussion to be turned into a political jamboree.
Mr Agbinibo added: “We are warning this government of President Muhammadu Buhari not to turn the essence of genuine peace talk and dialogue to political jamboree that is prevailing now where all manner of social media agitators and criminals have been sponsored by the job seeking corrupt political class to save faces before the government of the day."
He added that while it would not blow up more pipelines, it insisted that repairs to all bombed trunk lines must be put on hold until the dialogue is over. Also, NDA threatened to sink two large vessels belonging to the oil companies if its conditions were disregarded.
Already, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) has said it was accepting the federal government’s offer of dialogue and invited the NDA to follow suit. Mend has already set up a negotiating team to be headed by a former minister of state for petroleum, Odein Ajumogobia, to hold talks with the government team on the way forward for peace to reign in the region.
Comments
Post a Comment