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F.G. swoops down on oil thieves
SOPURUCHI ONWUKA
GOVERNMENT
has initiated determined efforts to end violent clashes among armed crude
bunkering syndicates that have kept Port Harcourt and its environs horrible in
recent months.
Business Champion
gathered that intense offensive mounted by the nation’s security forces since
last week has been sustained through the weekend to ensure that the ethnic
militiamen wielding weapons for different syndicates are subdued.
Meanwhile, government watchdogs in the oil
and gas industry have blamed the worsening security threat to investments in the
area on the Rivers State Government accused of floating some of the groups in
the first place.
Top management officials of both the
Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) told Business Champion seperately that the clashes
were political and would better be addressed by the Rivers State Government.
The traditional monarch of Bonny land,
which is worst hit by the clashes because of the presence of oil installation,
said last week that the clashes among the gangs and against federal troops were
assuming the dimension of a civil war.
He wondered why government has not
arrested the culprits "despite the information available to it," and urged the
state government to promptly round up the culprits and their sponsors.
But Rivers State governor, Dr. Peter Odili,
responded by saying that the worsening security situation in the state was
beyond what his government could handle alone.
He pointed at photos and video clips
displayed by the warlords and stated that the feud has gone technical in
planning and execution of attacks.
Governor Odili accused his fellow
governors in neighbouring oil producing states of sponsoring the clashes in
order to steer away investment focus of oil multinationals from the state.
He said rival oil producing states’
governments and other highly placed individuals he did not name were funding
procurement of battle equipment for the warring factions to sustain the
violence.
The governor however said his government
would not continue to watch the state turn into a battle field and issued a 24
hour ultimatum for the gangs also called cultists to surrender their arms or
face severe consequences.
That was not the first time he was issuing
such orders. Earlier orders and appeals for the gangsters to return weapon for
jobs did not yield any result because, Business Champion observes, the
militancy which feeds on stolen crude oil from Shell’s facilities has become a
robust business.
Renowed offensive by the security forces,
observers fear, may not yield any substantial result as the ethnic militants
have already acquired a level of fire power and logistics to repel or evade
invading soldiers in the waters of the mangrove swamp and shallow offshore.
Leader of the 2000 men strong Niger Delta
People’s Volunteer Force, Mr. Asari Dokubo, told agency sources last week that
his men were able to drive the troops away, adding that the federal security
forces later came after his men with helicopter gunships.
Reliable sources said that regular air
raids by soldiers had continued since then and may have recorded several
casualties.
Dokubo admitted to foreign press that his
men have been constantly clashing with rival groups whom, he claimed, were
supported by the Rivers State government to vanguish his group.
He told foreign sources his groups and
rivals’ arms, ammunition and other war equipment were financed by bleeding
Shell’s pipelines for crude oil otherwise called illegal bunkering.
Observers are worried over the rising
spate of violence in the Port Harcourt axis of the Niger Delta region, after
investments in Warri, 150 kilometers Northwest of Port Harcourt, were frozen
when ethnic and community hostilities made safe operations impossible.
Army spokesman, Col. Mohammed Yusuf, was
quoted by sources as admitting that federal troops were drafted to protect the
city of Port Harcourt after series of clashes among rival gangs claimed the
lives of over 70 people.
He said the troops, using helicopters and
gunboats, had attacked the gangs in their swamp locations and shallow water
anchor points.
An NNPC source said both the federal and
Rivers State governments were collaborating to seek political resolution to the
Port Harcourt uprising.
A DPR source added that it is the
responsibility of the politicians that floated the militant groups under sundry
guises to tame them in order to reduce security tension in the business
environment.
Presidential Adviser on Petroleum and
Energy matters, Dr Edmund Dankoru, said recently that the federal government was
tackling the Niger Delta question from all fronts.
Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Roland
Oritsejafor, warned that the security forces would isolate and deal with the
criminal aspect of the Niger Delta crises.
He said the government was evolving a
model to address genuine cases of marginalisation in the area.
Multinational oil giants operating the
nation’s join venture and production agreements have in recent years shut in
several billion barrels of reserves in the heat of ethnic clashes and rising
wave of criminality in the Western Niger Delta.
This has led to loss of substantial
revenue to the government and built huge costs on joint venture budgets,
resulting in dwindling margins from operations.
Recently the Presidency accommodated crude
theft and pipeline vandalisation under economic crimes currently combatted by
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Despite this measure, the incidents of
sabotage and criminality have continued to trail upstream oil business in
Nigeria, resulting in recent decisions by operators to relocate to more stable
environments where onshore facilities are more secure.
The security concerns, Business Champion observes,
informs the company’s investment focus on offshore territories where security
risks are minimal
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