Nigeria Security Update #1 180707

Shell Pipelines on Fire

An oil pipeline feeding Shell's Bonny export terminal in southern Nigeria is burning in six separate places but there is no impact on production, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

Precious Okolobo said Shell became aware of the fires on the Trans-Niger pipeline in early June and had been negotiating with local communities in the Ogoni area of the Niger Delta to try and gain access to the sites.

"We have been denied access. We are deeply concerned about this situation and we are asking for access so that we can go in and fight these fires," Okolobo said.

"Production has been continuing but a little bit of oil has been pouring out from the six holes that have been drilled in the pipeline and burning off," he said.

Local rights group the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) called for the closure of the pipeline, which had been attacked twice in May by protesters in the same area, forcing Shell to halt up to 170,000 barrels per day.

MOSOP said the pipeline fires were started by local youths angry with the company over what they said were unfulfilled promises of jobs and benefits. Such disputes between communities and oil companies are common in the impoverished Niger Delta.

Oil production from Nigeria, the world's eighth-biggest exporter, has been reduced since February 2006 because of militant attacks on the industry in the lawless delta. The shortfall now stands at 547,000 barrels per day or 18 percent of Nigerian output capacity.

Attacks on oil facilities are just one facet of violence in the delta, where a dearth of jobs and basic public services fuel crime and militancy. At least 11 foreign workers are being held hostage by various delta armed groups.

HISTORY OF PROTESTS

Shell suspended production in Ogoni 14 years ago because of popular protests over pollution and lack of development, but the area is still criss-crossed by pipelines and many residents are still aggrieved about oil spills and what they see as neglect.

Okolobo said the government of Rivers state had asked local authorities in the affected area to allow Shell access and negotiations had taken place as recently as Tuesday afternoon in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital.

MOSOP gave a different account of the situation, accusing Shell of failing to recognise legitimate community leaders. It blamed the company for severe environmental damage.

"Farmland beside the fires has been polluted while nearby villages have been constantly living under a cloud of smoke and pollution," it said in a statement.

MOSOP was Shell's main critic in Ogoni in the early 1990s when the protests were at their peak. The organisation's then leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa, was hanged by the military government in 1995 after being convicted of murder on what were widely seen as trumped-up charges.

Ever since Saro-Wiwa's execution, which reflected badly on Shell in the eyes of many environmental and human rights activists around the world, the company has been trying to mend ties with MOSOP and with the broader Ogoni community.

But a government-sponsored peace process has failed to quell protests and discontent in the area.


Shell Gas Plant Shut Down

Angry youths of Oben community in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State on Tuesday shut down Oben Gas Plant belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited.

The youths, led by one Prince West Ogienwonyi Uyigue, told our correspondent that they were protesting the failure of the Edo State Governor, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, to appoint the Chairman of the Edo State Oil and Gas Producing Communities Development Commission from Oben, said to be the highest oil and gas producing community.

They sang protest songs and vowed that they would not leave the plant unless the state government gave in to their demand. They said they embarked on the closure of the plant as a last resort after their consultations with the government in Benin failed.

But several detachments of mobile policemen from Edo and Delta states moved in a few hours later and displaced the youths from the plant.

The Edo State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Peter Ogboi, said the action was a ”minor protest”, which had been put under control. He told our correspondent that the police moved in as soon as they got signal of the development and restored order.

The protest came just as the governor submitted the names of the members of the commission to the House of Assembly for approval.

The Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Isaiah Osifo, who had been handling matters relating to the oil and gas producing communities, told our correspondent that the youths from Oben did not have to take their protest too far.

He said before the governor appointed members of the commission, he consulted widely among the oil producing communities, and that the traditional rulers and people of Oben even nominated their own representative of the commission.

He said the law setting up the commission gave the governor the prerogative to appoint the chairman from any of the three recognized oil and gas producing local governments of Orhionmwon, Ikpoba/Okha and Ovia North East.

He said having appointed the chairman from Orhionmwon Local Government Area, the governor appointed a full-time member of the commission from Oben community, which had been adjudged the highest oil and gas producing community in the state.

Freedom Fighters Demand Kingdom

NIGER-DELTA Freedom Fighters (NDFF), the militant group in Egbema kingdom of Delta State, which kidnapped four American workers of the Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), May 8, and released them after 22 days in captivity, yesterday, called on the Federal Government, Delta State Government and the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to urgently begin the provision of development infrastructures and employment for the youths in the Ijaw province.

NDFF leader, Egbema One, told Vanguard that before the four Americans who were taken hostage by the group to draw government’s attention to the underdevelopment in the area were released May 30, “Negotiations were made, committee set up and promises were made, but these promises have not been fulfilled and no effort or positive steps taken to concretise these promises.”

According to him the demands of the people were made known to the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) during his recent visit to Okerenkoko in Warri South-West local government area but the NDFF was yet to see any serious effort to address the issues.

Egbema One said it was because of the discussions during the recent visit of the Vice President to the state that the group has restrained its fighters from launching further attacks, saying,“Enough is enough, we want an urgent solution to these issues or else, we will take the other option, which will render Niger-Delta ungovernable.”

In a letter to the chairman of the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC), dated 14 July, made available to Vanguard in Warri, yesterday, the NDFF leader said the government could put a final stop to hostage taking and other related crisis in Egbema kingdom and the Niger-Delta if qualified Niger-Delta graduates and school leavers were engaged to earn a living.


Cultist Warfare Plagues River State

Rivers State on Tuesday again witnessed an outbreak of violence when suspected cultists killed three persons in Umumei and Umuolu communities of Igwuruta in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state.

The cultists, said to be fighting for the control of communities in the local government area, also blew up the home of the Paramount Ruler, Chief Ugudu Nyeche.

Our correspondent learnt that the two cult groups started fighting around midnight and continued till 5am, wounding several persons and destroying properties worth millions of naira.

A source in the community confirmed that the paramount ruler had fled from his house before it was bombed.

The source said that cultists also blew up the homes of Mr. Sam Nwulu and Mr. Chibuike Ozu, all indigenes of the community before they disappeared into the bush.

The source however gave the names of those shot dead as Aham Wogu, Ogechi Ndawe and Akawu Olajide.

While the fighting was spreading to all parts of the affected communities, a report was made to the headquarters of the State Police Command said, the source said.

The police, it was learnt, immediately deployed troopers to the area in the early hours of the day to engage the cultists.

When the assailants could not match the fire power of the police troopers, they retreated into the bush.

Riot policemen were patrolling the communities when our correspondent visited the area in the evening while some resident who had fled in the wake of the fighting were seen coming back to their homes.

The Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, who confirmed the attacks, noted that his men had brought the situation under control.

Kidnapping as Business (Vanguard)

THE reaction to the kidnapping of three-year-old Briton, Margaret Hills, was typical – so much noise that police failed to arrest the kidnappers, and the terms that returned the child to the parents remain unknown.

Kidnapping of children in Port Harcourt is not new. The poor security situation in Port Harcourt, where criminals can take over the city without an appropriate response from the security agencies makes the city a fertile ground for criminals. When criminal groups can invade the police headquarters, burn it, free suspects, and get away with it, what security will residents of the city have?

Hills got much attention, perhaps, because the father is British. Children are kidnapped on regular bases. It is doubtful if all the cases get to the police. The affected parents often resolve the matter quickly in favour of the kidnappers to save their children from coming to harm.

In the last two months, the kidnapping of two-year-old Sam Amadi is the fourth reported case of child kidnapping in Port Harcourt. The child of a Rivers State legislator, and another belonging to a businessman were also taken. In all the cases, the children were on their way to school. Armed men took the children, and in each case, demanded ransom from the parents.

The kidnaps absolutely reflect the collapse of security in Port Harcourt. They need to be checked before they spawn similar criminality in other places. It would be too bare to see security just in terms of some armed people moving around, thinking their presence would scare criminals away.

What is the profile of those carrying out these acts? Are they unemployed? Would they abandon crime if they had jobs? How are they able to evade our security system? Is the ransom the motivation for the crime or is it used to cover activities that are more criminal? Is anyone protecting them from the law? Kidnapping is organised crime, there is no acceptable reason for condoning it.

No society that wants to make progress would accept this situation. The solution, however, does not lie in the limpid threats of military action in the region. Already there is too much militarisation of the zone, a ready admission of the police’s failure, and a confession of government’s unwillingness to make the police the premier security agency in the country. Unfortunately, for the populace, there is still no substitute for the emasculated police.

The inherent danger in consistently ignoring the problems in the Niger Delta, or addressing them with speeches, is that new levels of lawlessness develop. Government’s inability to tackle new crimes, embolden new converts to try something new, and of a more dangerous dimension.
Parents everywhere in Nigeria should be scared of this new business.

As we grapple with this new reality we wonder when Section 14 (2) b of the 1999 Constitution which states, “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government” will be effected.

New Hopes for Peace in Niger Delta (ISN)

With a new president taking office, Nigerians hope for a fresh start in the talks to quell the restive Niger Delta region.

By Dulue Mbachu in Lagos for ISN Security Watch (19/07/07)

When Umaru Yar'Adua assumed office as Nigeria's new president at the end of May, he pledged that his top priorities would include bringing peace to the country's troubled Niger Delta oil region, where violence has recently escalated as armed militants and criminals target the oil industry, deeply cutting into Nigeria's lifeblood crude oil exports and causing jitters in the world oil markets.

At least a quarter of Nigeria's oil exports of three million barrels per day have ceased in the past 18 months - a period that has also seen the kidnapping of more than 200 foreign oil workers. Most of the hostages have been freed unharmed after ransom payment. Militants fighting for greater local control of the oil wealth produced in the region say they will shut down the entire industry if their demands are not met.

Within two weeks of taking office, Yar'Adua freed Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, the top militia leader in the region who had been jailed by his predecessor Olusegun Obasanjo on charges of treason. Dokubo-Asari's release was a key demand of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main militia group spearheading attacks on the oil industry for the past two years.

Working in Yar'Adua's favor is his choice of vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, a former state governor in the Delta and an ethnic Ijaw, the dominant ethnic group in the oil region from which the militias draw most of their fighters. Jonathan has ventured into the winding creeks of the Delta without his security escorts to meet with Dokubo-Asari to persuade the militia leader and his followers to give the government a chance to deal with the impoverished region's grievances.

"The emergence of Jonathan has put our struggle in a dilemma," Dokubo-Asari told ISN Security Watch in Lagos during an interview. "The majority of the Ijaw people support Jonathan and want us to give him a chance. And we're going to give him a chance."

All-out war

Dokubo-Asari, who led the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF), declared an "all out war" in September 2004 against oil multinationals operating in the region - which produces more than 95 percent of Nigerian oil - including Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and ENI subsidiary Agip. The threat helped lift world oil prices to over US$50 for the first time.

A worried then-president Obasanjo invited Dokubo-Asari for talks, pledging to address the Delta region's demands for more local control of the oil wealth, which is mostly in the hands of the central government dominated by the bigger ethnic groups. Obasanjo granted the militia leader amnesty, but this truce unraveled when the government appeared slow in addressing the militants' demands. When he announced that he would fight for the break up of Nigeria, Dokubo-Asari was arrested in September 2005.

However, his arrest and trial triggered a dramatic escalation of violence against the oil industry. With their commander in jail, many militia fighters took to banditry or joined MEND, which emerged as the vanguard of the Delta's militia groups in place of the NDPVF. Militias and bandits alike attacked oil installations largely unimpeded due to the military being unfamiliar with the terrain.

"It was a serious error of judgment on the part of Obasanjo to have incarcerated Dokubo-Asari," Johnson Ekong, a Nigerian oil industry security expert, told ISN Security Watch. "The consequence was that there was no known leader of the fighters to talk to and at the same time the military had no solution to the violent activities going on in the creeks."

MEND, which claimed most of the attacks on oil installations, has no known leader. The group only communicates with the outside world through e-mails sent from a Yahoo account by a "Jomo Gbomo," which is most likely a pseudonym. The group's kidnappings have spawned copycat attacks by regional criminal gangs who seize hostages - recently including children- and release them in return for ransom, making the Niger Delta by number of incidents the most dangerous oil region in the world after Iraq.

With the release of Dokubo-Asari, who has pledged not to renew attacks on the oil industry, the government hopes he will help rein in the violence that currently rules in the region. Yar'Adua has also met with political and community leaders representing various aggrieved ethnic minorities in the area to discuss ways to accelerate the long-neglected region's development.

"If the people can see that their leaders are honest, they will understand, but once they see that their leaders are in power to make money there will be a problem," Yar'Adua told ISN Security Watch.

According to Dokubo-Asari, since his release from prison early in June, he has been in contact with key militia commanders active in the Delta in an attempt to convene "a central command meeting" to seek ways of ending the current banditry sweeping the region. Yet, he is quick to warn it will not be an easy task.

"We can't stop this kidnapping immediately because those involved have enjoyed the money and will find it hard to give up," he said. "It may take six months to another one year before it will begin to die down."

Inalienable rights

In the meantime, the militants are holding on to their demands that the federal government cede more control over the oil wealth produced in the Delta to the region's inhabitants and expect Yar'Adua's government to propose concrete options about how to achieve this.

Outlining the militants' position, Dokubo-Asari said the treaties signed between the Ijaw people of the Niger Delta and the former British colonial power never included forcing them into a country called Nigeria. According to the Ijaws, if they must belong to Nigeria, the terms of membership will have to be negotiated.

"The issues at stake are fundamental," Dokubo-Asari told ISN Security Watch. "We have inalienable rights and it is our fundamental right to own our land and its oil."

People close to Yar'Adua expect some form of compromise will be agreed upon. One such person, former president Shehu Shagari,says the crisis in the Delta is the biggest problem facing Nigeria. As he sees it, dialogue is the only solution.

"They [people in the delta] have been placed in a difficult terrain and they deserve the sympathy and support of their brothers and sisters in the hinterland," Shagari told reporters recently.

"They should always bear in mind that it could be the other way round. All we need to do as Nigerians is to try and understand each other's problems and join hands to tackle them sensibly as a team," he added.