In this piece, Blessing Anaro and Chika Izuora writes on the initiative of Ibe Kachiku, Minister of state for petroleum, in dousing tension in the Niger Delta.When the Minister of state for Petroleum, Emmanuel Ibe Kachukwu, who also doubled then as Group Managing Director (GMD) for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) muted the idea of resolving the problem of militancy in the Niger-Delta by adopting the carrot and stick approach, many were indignant. They wanted the boys crushed and to send a warning signal to future antagonists.But we have a listening leader, President Muhammadu Buhari who decided to give the thought some consideration. He agreed, and now the story has changed, production has increased and is set to increase further if the talks are eventually successful.Analysts on the side-lines are only hopeful that the process is taken seriously and not handled by enemies of the state with a wicked intention to make it fail.A lot of praise must go to President Buhari who listened to his minister, thus provide an opportunity for lasting peace and development to come to the embattled area.Reflectively, in February this year, explosion in a pipeline operated by Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (NPDC), a Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary to the Shell Forcados export terminal promptly halted both production and imports. The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) a militant group publicly announced its existence in March, and since then the group ferociously attacked oil producing facilities, causing shutdown of oil terminals and a fall in the countrys production to its lowest in twenty years.The attacks caused Nigeria to fall behind Angola as Africas largest oil producer.Continuing militant attacks since the start of 2016 have targeted oil and natural gas infrastructure, resulting in more shut-in production.Kachikwu as then Group Managing Director (GMD) of the NNPC, canvassed for dialogue with the group, arguing that military option will not be enough to douse the tension.With his vast knowledge of the industry and coming from the Niger Delta region, the minister knew the creeks are certainly a difficult terrain to engage the rampaging Avengers.The ripple effect of the multiple attacks experienced weekly has continuously ravaged the oil industry threatening operations of multi-national oil firms.The NNPC, in one of its reports disclosed that the rising cases of militancy, pipeline vandalism, theft and sabotage of oil and gas assets has led to the curtailment of about 700,000 barrels per day (BPD) of crude oil.Maikanti Baru, GMD of the NNPC in his presentation during the visit to the Chief of Defence Staff in Abuja, also warned of dire financial consequences for the country as a result of the low crude oil output, even as he stated that the country lost N51.28 billion to pipeline vandalism and product theft in 2015.Baru recalled that the 2016 Budget was based on 2.2 million bpd of crude oil production, but the budget plan is now grossly impacted due to renewed militancy.He also stated that domestic natural gas supply to the power sector is equally impacted by the militancy, with an estimated drop of about 50 per cent, from 1.4 billion standard cubic feet per day (scfd) to barely below 700 million scfd, resulting to significant power outage exposure of between 2,500 megawatts (MW) to 3,000 MW as a result of direct and indirect impact.He said Petroleum products supply and distribution pipelines have also suffered huge products losses with attendant cost of repairs and loss of revenue adding that over 3,000 vandalism incidents were recorded every year from 20102015.From January to May this year, about 1,447 incidents have been recorded resulting to a loss of about 109 million litres of petroleum products and about 560,000 barrels of crude oil to refineries. Along with this menace is the incessant case of kidnapping of personnel and piracy in areas of operationsTo ensure the safety of oil and gas assets across the country, Baru, therefore called on the Chief of Defence Staff to facilitate and sustain personnel deployment at the oil and gas critical operational facilities when required and also provide support to Corporate and Strategic Business Units of the NNPC requiring security presence to operate.In addition, he said, As part of current NNPC Management Agenda, an internal Security Advisory Council (SAC) is proposed to be established to principally renew our strategies and security architecture and to regularly provide crucial inputs to the National Security Team.Indeed, the attacks on oil facilities have sent jitters into operations of oil companies.The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has carried out a string of devastating attacks on Nigerias oil pipelines and facilities since the start of the year.While the NDA is ravaging the industry, a new group calling itself the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM) emerges equally posing threat to oil facilities.Earlier this August, the NDA threatened to pull the oil region out of Nigeria, accusing the president of fuelling divisions in the country.Oil majors including Shell, Exxon, Chevron, Eni and even NNPC have all been targeted by attacks this year.The assaults have reduced Nigerias output by 21.5 percent since January, according to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), depleting government revenue at a time of low global oil prices.At the heat of the attacks, Kachikwu continued with his engagement process putting pressure on the Avengers to return to negotiation table while appealing to government to rescind decision to end the violence with violence.Cease Fire Within A Divided Struggle There was sigh of relief when the Avengers announced a conditional ceasefire and agreed to hold talks with the federal government following months of attacks on key oil and gas facilities that have hammered the economy.In a message posted on its website, the group said it would observe a cessation of hostilities, so long as the countrys ruling party stops what it called harassment of innocent civilians.There have been unconfirmed reports for several weeks, of talks underway with Abuja, and the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has invited rebels to discussions several times.But the NDA said it would honour its ceasefire pledge unless the ruling political APC (All Progressives Congress party) continues to arrest, intimidate, invade and harass innocent citizens and invade especially Ijaw communities.Otherwise, it warned: We promise to fight more for the Niger Delta, if this opportunity fails. But while president Buhari agreed to peace initiative of Kachikwu, three militant groups, Reformed Egbesu Boys, Egbesu Water Lions and Egbesu Mythier Fraternity declared that neither the Avengers nor the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta, MEND, which had raised a negotiation team, tagged Aaron Team 2, has their mandate to represent them in any dialogue with government.Beside presidential approach, traditional rulers in Delta State, who appealed to the militants to stop bombing oil installations and embrace dialogue, urged government to stick to the peaceful negotiation in dealing with the militant groups.The so-called General Officer Commanding, GOC, Intelligence, Tony Alagbakeriowei, and GOC, Logistics and Admin, General Ebi Abakoromor, in a statement on behalf of the three militant groups, condemning the NDA and MEND, said the preliminary discussions so far by government officials slanted towards Avengers and a particular former militant leader, vowing to cause mayhem if they were ignored.The statement, addressed to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, who is driving the dialogue process, read: We write on behalf of the Reformed Egbesu Boys of the Niger Delta, Egbesu Water Lions and Egbesu Mythier Fraternity to bring to the urgent attention of the Federal Government that the negotiation with the Avengers is lopsidedConsequently, we warn that the negotiation team be expanded to include various active group reps that participated in this current crisis. Failure to heed this wise counsel, aggrieved stakeholders will resort to doing what we know best. When the need for the cessation of hostilities arose as a result of pleas arising from national and international sources, the Reformed Egbesu Boys of the Niger Delta were the first to unilaterally declare ceasefire the Group added.They said that at the commencement of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, some militant leaders cornered the proceeds of the struggle to the exclusion of other participants, warning: This is the scenario now unfolding, we object to this with all our might.Reacting to MEND Aaron Team 2, the three Egbesu militants groups said MEND exists only on the pages of newspaper and hotels rooms in Abuja and, therefore, could not speak for militant groups in the region.We condemn in strong terms the emerging trend where those in MEND, who took to kidnapping and hostage-taking to criminalise the legitimate agitation and had since been disbanded and accepted the poorly coordinated Amnesty Programme, are now seeking relevance and purporting to have raised a negotiation team to dialogue with the federal government the groups said.
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