Tension eases in Nigeria’s oil region after shift in government policy

Date:

After more than a year on the run, former militant turned millionaire businessman TomPolo is in talks with government officials about a possible amnesty, his brother says, as part of a new strategy that local leaders say is contributing to peace and a recovery in crude production in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Government “TomPolo” Ekpemupolo was a top commander in the insurgency that sabotaged Africa’s biggest oil industry until he and other militants accepted a government amnesty in 2009. He was later awarded security contracts to guard the pipelines the militants had been blowing up.
But after President Muhammadu Buhari came to power nearly two years ago, the government cancelled contracts and issued a warrant for his arrest on money-laundering charges related to other government deals.
TomPolo maintains his innocence. As relations between the Delta and the federal government deteriorated, a new wave of attacks on infrastructure owned by majors including Shell and Chevron erupted.
It remains unclear who is behind the attacks, but the arrest warrant fuelled tensions in an area already wary of Mr Buhari. Nigeria’s crude production fell last May to near 30-year lows, exacerbating the worst economic crisis in decades in the oil-dependent nation.

But in the past two months, calm has returned to the region following a noticeable shift in government policy. Rather than vowing to crush the militancy, Mr Buhari’s administration has been talking to Delta leaders.

Vice-president Yemi Osinbajo, standing in for Mr Buhari during his recent 50-day medical leave abroad, has made six visits to the region, where he sat with traditional chiefs and local politicians.
He listened and promised action on a number of issues, some linked to disputes involving TomPolo. And the diplomatic blitz appears to be working — there has been no incident of militancy-related sabotage for three months.
“In a situation of conflict, consultations matter a lot. It’s really important to hear the people,” said George Ekpemupolo, a government official and TomPolo’s half-brother. Mr Ekpemupolo said he has represented TomPolo in closed door discussions with the vice-president. “He’s a messiah here,” Mr Ekpemupolo said of his half-brother.
TomPolo, 45, built mansions and doted on his family, but he also built roads and health clinics, filling a gap that neither the government nor oil companies had addressed. “There is relative peace partly because of the closed-door discussions [of the] vice-president and TomPolo’s kinsmen,” said Sheriff Mulade, who runs a local non-governmental organisation and is from Kokodiagbene, which is near Chevron’s Escravos terminal and the Shell-operated Forcados pipeline.

Whether an official deal, which locals hope would include a public pledge by the government to drop the arrest warrant against TomPolo, will be announced is unclear. Mr Buhari, a former general and a Muslim from the north of the country, has in the past professed his disdain for the Delta elites, who he sees as complicit in the looting of the nation’s wealth.

But the tone of his government began to change in January as the economic crisis deepened. “There is no time to waste,” tweeted Mr Osinbajo during one of his recent trips to the region.

“We must all recommit to working together to make the Niger Delta a vibrant and dynamic economic zone,” reflecting the attitude of compromise now prevailing in the region on which Nigeria relies for 90 per cent of its foreign earnings.
Gail Anderson, lead Nigeria analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said that production is still impaired by non-militancy related issues, such as crude theft. Wood Mac estimates that output has risen to 1.7m bpd, up from 1.5m bpd last May, when the militant attacks were at their peak.
But that is below the government’s claim that oil production has recovered to 2m bpd. Still, Ms Anderson said the situation is “far more positive”. “The government seems to be investing a lot of effort to keep people on side, and it seems to be working,” she added. Moses Taiga, a leader from another oil-producing area in the Delta state, said his people have decided to “give the government the benefit of the doubt”.
The subtext of such statements, say observers, is that angry youth have been told to hold fire and cease attacks on pipelines and other infrastructure. Three oil industry insiders in Nigeria said that the unofficial truce will not be enough for Shell to begin repairing Forcados, which can ship more than 200,000 bpd. It is the only major pipeline attacked by suspected militants last year that remains offline.
Meanwhile, a Nigerian oil company that normally ships its oil through the Forcados system has been taking its crude out of the creeks by barge, according to Mercuria, the commodities trading house that is barging the oil.
A Shell spokesman said the company is “committed to getting the pipeline back on stream and we acknowledge the efforts of the federal government in creating an enabling environment”. Mr Ekpemupolo agrees. Of the vice-president’s pledges, he concludes on a positive note: “What he’s saying is in line with 50 per cent of what we’re asking for, so we need to work with him.” Additional reporting by Anjli Raval
Naija247news
Naija247newshttps://www.naija247news.com/
Naija247news is an investigative news platform that tracks news on Nigerian Economy, Business, Politics, Financial and Africa and Global Economy.

Share post:

Subscribe

Popular

More like this
Related

“Two broke people dating should be a crime” – Cynthia Morgan

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. Nigerian singer, Cynthia Morgan has explained...

Positive Outlook for Nigeria as Interest-Rate Increases Spark Investor Interest

Nigeria Leads Emerging-Market Rebound Amidst Policy ReformsAs the first...

“West Africa’s Cocoa Crisis: Chocolate Prices Soar Amidst Devastation”

Janet Gyamfi, a 52-year-old cocoa farmer from western Ghana,...

Nigeria’s New Mining Licensing Strategy: A Shift Towards Local Processing

Nigeria is shifting its mining licensing process to prioritize...
Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com

Discover more from Naija247news

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading