Violence in the Delta
has cut oil output by
a third. It may get
even worse
Jun 23 2016 | YENAGOA

IN THE Niger Delta, a gun is
an investment that yields
excellent returns. Jamnogo
Blessing, a gang member,
recently turned up in
Yenagoa, a turbulent city in
the oil-pumping Niger Delta,
to buy a stash of weapons
from militants who hung up
their boots seven years ago.
“The only language the
government listens to is
violence,” he says. Once
rearmed, his gang will attack
oil companies operating
around his home town of
Idheze, he adds.
An army of unemployed
young men like Mr Blessing is
threatening to rise up in
southern Nigeria and blow up
oil pipelines. The industry,
on which Nigeria depends for
nearly all government
revenues, could be crippled,
as it was for much of the
early 2000s. Production has
already fallen to about 1.5m
barrels a day (b/d), down
from 2.2m last year, as
attacks gather pace. This
has helped push the global
oil price back up to almost $
50 a barrel. And it could spell
disaster for President
Muhammadu Buhari, who is
trying to stave off recession.
His budget assumed almost
double that level of output
this year.
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Responsibility for much of the
damage has been claimed by
a mysterious and skilful band
called the Niger Delta
Avengers. Earlier this year
they set off an explosion six
metres under water, cutting
output by 250,000b/d.
Foreign oil firms are giving
up on repairs, since the
saboteurs just strike again.
Local producers who rely on
pipelines have been forced
to turn off the taps. “We’ve
had not a drop of oil for four
and a half months,” laments
Kola Karim, the boss of
Shoreline Energy, one such
group.
The Avengers say they want
more local control of
resources. This is what
gunmen in the Niger Delta
always say. And by “local”,
they mean they’d like a taste
of the money themselves.
“It’s just old wine in a new
jar,” says Jonjon Oyeinfe,
an activist. The last set of
militants more or less
stopped fighting after they
were bought off with an
amnesty in 2009, and a
monthly stipend of 60,000
naira each (about $400 at
the time). That is a huge sum
in a region where most
people live on less than a
dollar a day, and gives other
men a reason to take up
arms.
Many Niger Deltans
sympathise with the rebels.
Until last year a local man,
Goodluck Jonathan, was
president of Nigeria and
showered goodies on his
home region. Mr Buhari, who
hails from the north, has
cancelled a number of
pipeline security contracts
that had been given to
southerners, including Mr
Tompolo, and slashed the
budget for paying off ex-
fighters by 70%. Unemployed
former rebels moan that it
has been four months since
they got their last monthly
stipend. They are also
furious that a proposed oil-
law amendment would scrap
the royalty that went to local
communities. “Right now
everybody in the Niger Delta
is an Avenger, because
everyone is angry,” says
one former fighter, sitting by
a swimming pool. Other rebel
groups with comic-book titles
such as the Niger Delta
Suicide Squad seem to pop
up almost every day.
Some of their complaints are
fair. Nigeria’s oil business is
a labyrinth of patronage and
corruption, where politicians
skim off profits and cartels
steal hundreds of millions of
barrels every year. Oil
pollution kills fish and
impoverishes fishermen. Yet
there is no reason to think
that it would be better
managed if control were
devolved to the Delta. For
years a hefty 13% of oil
revenue has been pumped
back into the producing
states, but governors have
generally squandered it.
Another war would only make
matters worse. “This will not
stop until they do things
right,” says the retired
militant. “The time will come
when Nigeria is producing no
oil at all.”

www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21701165-violence-delta-has-cut-oil-output-third-it-may-get-even

Failure of successive govt to address ND issue holistically coupled with present govt posture of force will always make present events a recurring decimal in our polity.

The ND needs a development plan that'll not enrich few individuals at the detriment of the larger populace.

In the absence of such plan then fiscal federalism should be adopted cos we can't continue to deceive ourselves that things are working when it's glaringly otherwise.

hucienda:
"We Are All Avengers."

- Niger-Deltans

Really??

There are 1001 reasons to be angry as a night deltan!

Niger Delta Avengers was created to destabilize the fight on corruption, they assumed if they can shield their sponsors from corruption prosecution, they can still force buhari to pay them amnesty , they think because Dokubo built a university and Tompolo has 3.3 Billion in his frozen account, they can take shortcut to happiness


It doesn't work that way , sorry people ..


and as for you hucienda Since you are all avengers , when the army comes for you all, i do not want to hear cries of massacre or any mentions of ICC