The Federal Government on Monday said it had
evolved two strategies – engagement and
security – to halt attacks on oil installations in the
country as a result of the renewed insurgency in
the Niger Delta region.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this on
Monday at the State House during a meeting with
a delegation of the European Union, led by the EU
Ambassador in Nigeria, Michel Arrion.
A new militant group, Niger Delta Avengers,
recently vowed to bring Nigeria’s oil production to
“zero” point, having carried out audacious attacks
on installations belonging to international oil
companies, including Eni and Shell.
The renewed insurgency in the oil-rich region has
impacted negatively on the economy, affecting
gas supply to power plants and drastically
reducing the country’s oil production to as low as
800,000 bpd.
Mr. Osinbajo said government was engaging
leaders and people of the Niger Delta regarding
the spate of attacks on oil installations, an act he
described as economic sabotage.
But besides reaching out to the people of the
area, Mr. Osinbajo assured, government was also
beefing up security in the region.
Mr. Osinbajo added that “government is working
round the clock to minimize the losses arising
from the attacks.”
‘We are talking, we are ensuring that we minimize
losses and we are stepping up security. We are
also engaging the international oil companies,
IOCs, to see what options exists,” Mr. Osinbajo
said.
According to him, the focus of the Buhari
presidency “is to ensure that the man on the
street in the Niger Delta receives the benefit from
all that is available there.”
He also called on leaders in the region to be
accountable to the people.
Further on economic issues, the Vice-President
restated government’s commitment to driving its
diversification policy and encouraging investors
from European countries to take advantage of the
situation especially in the agro-allied processing
industry.
He restated the determination of the
administration to ensuring that Nigeria’s ranking
in the World Bank ease of doing business survey
goes up by at least 20 steps.
To this end, he said the President had approved
the composition of a Presidential Commission on
the matter to be chaired by himself, the VP, and
the Industry, Trade and Investment Minister,
Okey Enelamah, as Vice Chairman.
“In the next few months, we should be seeing
some changes,” he said.
Mr. Osinbajo also commented on the failure of the
government to disclose names of those who
returned loots.
Releasing the names of persons from whom the
Federal Government recovered looted funds and
assets may jeopardize ongoing investigations, Mr.
Osinbajo said.
While the government released a list of sums of
monies and assets already recovered in the last
one year, names of individuals involved were not
included.
“We have released the list of recovered loot, we
know people are asking for the names, but
releasing the names may jeopardize ongoing
investigations,” the Vice President said.
Earlier, Mr. Arrion said he came to consult the
Vice President as a follow-up on President Buhari’s
meeting with EU leaders during his visit to the
continent, adding that “Nigeria has a huge
market we can invest in. It is also a place we can
export from.”
Both Mr. Osinbajo and the European Union envoy
also discussed the EU trade deal with ECOWAS,
the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA),
which was also one of the main issues tabled at
the meeting of West African leaders over the
weekend in Dakar.