Date Published: 01/15/10

Nigeria: Fresh 'Oil War' looms in Niger Delta

* As Communities, Militants attack Government

PROSPECTS for enduring peace, are not appearing very bright in Nigeria, at least, in the volatile Niger Delta, a major oil and gas region.

Frontline insurgent network, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) says the Nigerian government is yet to start playing ball on the core areas of their demand. Their demands mainly centre on socio-economic, political and environmental justice for the peoples of the oil region.

Spokesman for the insurgent group, Jomo Gbomo, in an on-line statement to our correspondent on Thursday claimed that government was yet to address the core issues as demanded by true agitators for justice in the Niger Delta.

According to them, ''government is still inaugurating one dubious committee after another in a bid to continue stealing funds supposedly allocated to the development of the Niger Delta. They claimed to be disbursing funds to 20,000 militants when those actively involved in fighting the Nigerian military over the last two years do not exceed five thousand, a majority of whom had nothing to do with the governments amnesty''.

Gbomo spoke as Izombe, an oil-bearing community in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, is moving to tackle oil companies operating in their area and the Imo State Government over  what they described as‘’ more than three decades of negligence and underdevelopment’’.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Ashland (Addax) and later, Chevron are operating in the community which boasts of 20 oil wells and a flow station since 1974.

Regrouping under the aegis of Izombe Leaders of Thought Forum, the Izombe people said they were ‘’re-positioning  and refocusing to claim our rights”.

In an address outlining the position of the forum and the direction and focus of their  current struggle and delivered by its chairman, Chief Pius Eze kaji, the community described as “unacceptable by both God and man”, the absence of regular electricity and water especially in the community in spite of 34 years of being host to oil companies.

The forum also lamented the fact that despite being the second largest oil producing community in Imo State, its citizens had hardly been considered in appointments into Government top positions such as commissioners, permanent secretaries and heads of parastatals.

‘’ There is no light, no water. Our Agricultural farms are devasted by oil exploration and exploitation activites and our once buoyant local economy, noted for rich farm produce, are things of the past’’ Eze Kaji said.

He added that children from the community are suffering from poor education while the scanty scholarships awarded by the oil companies are not well funded  and timely administered.

Calling for  the people to close ranks and fight a common cause, the leaders of thought forum said, “Enough is enough we can not continue to play second fiddle where we contribute to the State and national wealth”.

“This is the time to act in unity to get back what we have lost since 1970s and we will not allow past rape to continue” the people said.

Throwing more light on why the leaders of thought felt like boosting the Community’s  Central union for greater effect, Chief Marcus Nnanna, one of the conveners, said that the approach to the current agitation was  persistent outcry to draw attention of the institutions concerned for peaceful dialogue.

Nnanna emphasized that the time had come for the community to take its pride of place in the comity of oil-producing communities in the country.

In the mean time, MEND says they saluted the courageous and patriotic fighters of the Niger Delta who carried out the attack on the Chevron Makaraba pipeline in Delta State on Friday, January 8, 2010.

This attack was sanctioned by MEND but did not involve our fighters. The attack exposes the continued vulnerability of the oil industry infrastructure and the resolve of the people of the Niger Delta to fight for their land.

''As stated after our attack on the oil pipeline at Abonema Rivers state on December 19, 2009, the movement for the emancipation of the Niger Delta is reviewing its indefininate ceasefire announced on Sunday,October 9, 2009 and will announce its position on or before January 30, 2010.

''Meanwhile, it is interesting to observe the double standards of the Nigerian government who sent representatives from its embassy in the US to witness the opening trial of the Al-Qaeda bomber from Northern Nigeria; providing him diplomatic support.

''When two Southern Niger Delta indigenes were arrested on trumped -up charges of gun-running in Angola in 2007, not a single representative from the embassy showed up in the six months they were detained in Angolan prison.

''This only confirms the disdain with which the people of the Niger Delta are looked upon by the Nigerian government'', MEND said.