Communities Confronting Problems in the Niger Delta -- Analysis (This Day)
The negative effects of hostage taking in the Niger Delta has reached an axiomatic acceptance leading to the communities taking up the gauntlet to confront the issue. Ahamefula Ogbu writes on the latest community-based efforts to sensitise and check the ugly trend.
Social scientists would always argue that a society gets the type of government and practices it deserves. By that, they mean that society permits the practices as they have the capacity to reject and curb them. This is further justified by the fact that criminals and hostage takers live within the same setting as the victims so that if information and collaborative efforts are well articulated, the society has the capacity to check them. When the issue of hostage taking debuted with the kidnap of Daewoo workers at Cawthron Channel, it was purely a political thing without the issue of monetary demands as often obtains in other parts of the world where hostage taking is used to exert pressure for political ends.
Then the Joint Revolutionary Council claimed responsibility and demanded for the release of their leader, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo Asari who had been whisked into detention and added a few lines about resource control. Then, hostage taking was limited to the creeks until when there was a realisation that a business angle could be added to the political angle.
Later, skin pigmentation became a variable in the business so that foreigners became endangered species. The problem was further worsened by the fact that some government officials who were contacted to effect the release of such hostages helped to commercialise it through adding their markups.
Once money became a factor in securing the release of such hostages, it became business. Information had it that there was a case in Bayelsa State where almost a billion was spent to release some hostages and the boys involved became multi millionaires overnight, bought expensive cars and started living on the fast and expensive lane.
Unemployed youths who had been watching good life from the sidelines then saw having informants on the movement of prized expatriates, often insiders in the companies that employ the expatriates as a way of making quick money. All that were needed include information, a vehicle, arms and ammunition and a safe place to keep them pending negotiations.
Soon, the practice started entering into towns with the areas of influence under some powerful militant or cultists heads. It was said that most of the kidnaps which took place in the Port Harcourt metropolis and Emuoha axis were organised or sponsored by the late Prince Clarke Igodo while in the creeks, some other groups were responsible.
Things got so bad that some firms decided to pull out their workers from the Niger Delta for fear of security. Rivers State government suffered most as its contractors who had been mobilised were said to be unable to stay to execute the contracts due to security scare.
On the day Governor Celestine Omehia had interaction with the media, he shifted all the blames to militancy as he said that the former government of Peter Odili had awarded some contracts which stalled because the companies pulled out their expatriate staff for fear of kidnap.
Such projects include road contracts, drainage, water supply and other contracts in all spheres of the State. However, the communities which had been supporting their boys on the ground that they were not getting their fair share from the oil drilled from their backyards keyed into the practice of hostage taking by refusing to assist the security agencies with information.
Meanwhile, some host communities who had been having it good with the oil companies and other investment concerns had been mutely protesting the practice. It was not until an Indian firm, Indorama which bought the former Eleme Petrochemical Companies Limited and turned it around that the first notable attempt by any community to come to the open and address the issue.
First, some unknown groups had stormed the Indian quarters where Indorama camped their expatriates and made away with two of them. Negotiations started on their release where about N240 million was said to have been demanded by the abductors. Before long, there was another attack and on each occasion, the police and military personnel attached to the expatriates were alleged to have taken to their heels thereby making the job of the abductors easier.
It was not however until the militants again struck and in the process, took away the Managing Director of Indorama Mr. Arun Huectane and nine others that the bubble started bursting. Initially, reports had it that it was only seven people that were kidnapped including women and children. The facts were not fully disclosed till the day they were released and handed over to Governor Celestine Omehia.
Immediately the managing director and others were kidnapped, there were moves by Indorama to close shop. This they did by first moving out some of the experts that operate the sophisticated machines. At a point, they quietly moved out over 40 per cent of the expatriates and even considered shutting down in what they called a temporary measure to prune down production.
When THISDAY spoke with the Corporate Affairs Head of Indorama, Chief Jossy Nkwocha, he denied that they were closing down but rationalised their action through explaining that, "When the experts to handle the machines are not there, there is no how we can continue full production. That however does not mean that we are shutting down".
First to start the campaign were Indorama Nigerian workers who appealed for the release of their colleagues before the communities stepped in. On June 5, 2007, after several appeals by the paramount ruler of the Eleme Kingdom, HRH S. Ejiro had appealed to the kidnappers to stop the practice as it was capable of driving investors out of their kingdom.
"Indorama has revived a plant that didn't work many years, and has given many of our Niger Delta people jobs to feed their families. Our wellbeing is better now than before. It is unfortunate that this kind of thing is happening to Indorama," the King noted.
Thereafter, youths from the host community on the early hours of that June 5, barricaded the Eleme end of the East-West road which links Rivers State to Akwa Ibom and Cross River. They blocked it with tankers and refused any vehicular and pedestrian traffic for almost a whole day. People intending to go to neighbouring states from the road had to make a detour to Abia State.
When the government of the State went to placate the youth to open the road, they refused and used he opportunity to impress it on the team that they would only open the road if either Governor Celestine Omehia or his Deputy, Tele Ikuru personally came to address them. Even at that, they demanded for a concrete action on stemming hostage taking as well as explanation on what they were doing to ensure the release of the Indian hostages.
The government team that first arrived the scene was spurned. It was not until about 2.30 pm that the youths agreed to vacate after they were told that the Governor and his Deputy were not within the State that they agreed to open the road. By then blockade had cause a queue of vehicles that stretched over five kilometers.
They said that the effect of Indorama pulling out of their place would be enormous as more than 1,000 staff of the company from their community would again be thrown to the saturated labour market. They further stated that the reviving of the company has increased capital flow as they sell to other staff of the company.
Like triggering a chain reaction, the action of the Eleme youths and people was followed with a terse statement from Rumuogba community in Rivers State calling for the immediate release of hostages taken from Schlumberger yard in their place. They condemned the practice and called for their immediate release.
According to them, Schlumberger has been a good corporate citizen with whom they have not had any face off since they came to their land.
They reeled out number of development projects that the company has helped them to complete and decried anything that would make them pull out from the community.
Few days later, Ikwerre women mobilised and marched through the streets of Pot Harcourt. They divided themselves and from strategic locations, started the march to Government House where they said
they were going to give a letter to Governor Omehia as they were not happy with the hostage situation and the criminality associated with it.
While a group marched from Garrison on Aba-Port Harcourt express road, another group converged on Rumuokoro junction from where they first blocked the road and raised a song in their local dialect condemning hostage taking. The women did not allow vehicular traffic as they sang along. At Wimpey junction, they came in contact with a situation that wanted to test their resolve when the ubiquitous commercial motorcycles popularly called Okada refused to give them right of way. The women, who were initially very civil after warning the bikes operators severally, suddenly went violent. They dealt some slaps on some of them, kicked some and threatened to confiscate the bikes.
With the Okada put in check, they blocked the two lanes on Ikwerre road and refused the entreaties of the police who begged them to reopen it. However, after about 45 minutes, they listened to the voice of reason and reopened it. The saving grace however was that the incident happened during the nationwide Nigerian Labour Congress called strike which affected fuel supply and thereby thinned the number of vehicles on the road.
By the time they marched to Mile One and on to the new Government House gate, their counterpart from Garrison were progressing slower than the first gtoup, prompting the Ikwerre road group to arrive at the Government house first. They sang and clapped there until the other group arrived. They held their various banners which condemned hostage taking. Some read, "Ikwerre Mothers say no to hostage taking," "We want peace in our land and We say no to violence".
After about five minutes, the Deputy Governor, led some members of the State Executive to the gate where Mrs. Eunice Igwe, their leader addressed them. Mrs. Igwe decried the situation where their children were being initiated into cults and killed in their prime while the much needed development of the Niger Delta was still elusive. She asked the Government to do all within its powers to ensure development, provide jobs for the youths and put the issue of hostage taking in check, saying that "we are against violence and we are not a violent people.
"We are not happy about it. We need development in the Niger Delta, but not killings and kidnappings. The law enforcement agencies should be alive to their duties and act when they have information instead of releasing them as soon as they are arrested."They should stop initiating our children into cults and other social vices. The government should address the issue of unemployment as you know that an idle mind is the devil's workshop. They should address development, provide employment and respect our rights," she said.
Responding, Ikuru thanked them for their concern, saying that the issue has been giving the new administration sleepless nights. He however pledged that government has already mapped out some plans to contain it, pointing out that Omehia has already announced that he would form a committee to handle it.
"Thank you for coming out to peacefully demonstrate against hostage taking and criminalities in the region. Ikwerre people are not known for violence and criminality so we will not accept this attempt by a few people to smear us.
"We shall fight against criminality and other vices while pressing for the development of the Niger Delta which is not a criminal den', Ikuru said. It was also after the incident that Omehia announced one naira million reward to anyone who has information that would lead to release of hostages taken within the State. He also announced the formation of a committee to liaise with militants with a view to re-integrating them into the normal society. The committee will also ensure that there was peace among communities in the State and would be responsible for the training in vocational skills of militants and ensuring that they re-integrate into the society.
Secretary of the Committee, Mr. Jerry Nyeedam said they were putting in all within the realm of possibility to ensure that their youths were brought back on track and embrace normal social lives instead of indulging in criminalities while the issue of communal crises would be addressed in such a way that peace that would enable development would reign in the State.
So far, with the release of Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo Asari who it is believed would instill sanity among the boys who have been kidnapping foreign workers, the end may be in sight if there is a collaborative effort between the communities, the government and security forces since useful information can lead to early detection and freeing of hostages when they are taken.
It worked at Eleme Waterside when two Filipinos were kidnapped. They were freed by the police within hours of their being taken in a bush bar.
Militant Spokesperson Suggests Disarming the Delta (This Day)
The clearing house of militants in the Niger Delta, the "Joint Revolutionary Council" has raised an alarm over what it called the use of Niger Delta as a global arms dump which is increasing the problem of crime and hostage taking.
Speaking to THISDAY in an internet chat, the Spokesperson of the Council, Cynthia Whyte lamented that arms were circulating on street and sold at very cheap prices which make its purchase attractive.
According to them, rather than allow arms to circulate freely even to the knowledge of security organisations, there was need to to remove the attention of youths from acquiring arms and turn it to productive ventures.
On way out of the level of militancy which is affecting development in the region, the Spokesperson of the militants said that skills acquisition and empowerment through micro credit schemes to make funds available to those who wants to do business but lack the funds to do so was a way out.
Such trades that are lucrative in the oil and gas environment, the group suggested should be taught the youths who will be assured of employment or assisted to set up their own workshops which will be equipped and sometimes, given contracts which are currently awarded to foreign firms.
"There is free inflow of arms from all parts of the world to the Niger Delta. Unfortunately, our security system seems to have no answers for it. What leads to all these hostage taking is that when they bring in the arms and ask the boys to buy and they do not have money to pay, they look for other means of raising that money.
"Hostage taking hereby becomes attractive since when a gun that sells for like N5 million is given away at N1 or N2 million, they strive to raise the money.
If they take hostages and are paid, they go for the guns and immediately have their own bargaining power in the equation.
Warri Oil Refinery and Vessels Burned (This Day)
A massive explosion, caused by crude spillage from one of the tanks at the Warri Refinery yesterday resulted in an inferno that gutted part of the ailing refinery yesterday.
Although no life was lost, vessels on the Ubeki Creek, including barges and boats and other valuables, were said to have been torched as the ravaging fire spread over to the Warri River , where the oil vessels were berthing.
THISDAY checks revealed that the spillage of crude from the tank which spread towards the river resulted in the massive explosions which reportedly razed some property belonging to the communities.
Rescue operations were said to have come late thereby making the fire to spead far. As at press time yesterday, efforts were still in progress to put out the fire. Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has commenced a full scale investigation to ascertain the cause of the inferno.
Spokesman of the corporation, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, who confirmed this in a telephone interview with THISDAY last night, explained that the cause of the fire can only be known after the investigation which he said, has commenced immediately.
Ajuonuma who would not give details, however said, the entire refinery was not touched.
The Warri Refinery, with production capacity of 125 barrel per day (bpd) of crude and the 110 bpd Kaduna Refinery had been shut down since February last year after militants from the Niger Delta region blew up their feeder pipeline at Escravos.
The two refineries in Kaduna and Warri prior to the problem, processed 28 and 25 per cent respectively of Nigeria 's total crude oil refined locally.
Efforts to put the refineries in operation were truncated by the youths in the area that
prevented engineers from carrying out repairs on the facilities.
The damaged pipeline transports crude to both the Warri and Kaduna refineries, forcing the two refineries to stop operations in the last one year.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Engr. Funsho Kupolokun had disclosed that the closure of the two refineries which were producing some 18 million litres of petrol daily, was one of the reasons for the last December fuel crisis in the country.
VP Promises Hostage Taking Will Become History
Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, has assured the diplomatic community in Nigeria that hostage-taking in the Niger Delta will soon become a thing of the past, especially with on-going peace initiatives by the Federal Government.
Jonathan said this when he received the Russian Federation Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Igor Melikhov, at the state House yesterday.
He added that government is also making efforts to ensure development of the region, because “we want to ensure that place is like a paradise in future."
Reiterating government's commitment to ending the lingering problems in the area, he said the crisis has economically and politically affected not only the region, but the country as a whole
"Nobody is happy about the situation. Even state governors are embarrassed by the situation, this is why I have embarked on series of peace missions to the region in the last few days, and I believe very soon, there will be a resolution," he said.
While expressing sympathy for Russian expatriates held hostage, he conveyed the Federal Government’s appreciation to the Russian Federation for its friendly disposition towards Nigeria, saying he would strive to ensure release of the Russians in captivity. Speaking earlier, Melikhov commended the Federal Government for the success of the last general elections and congratulate Jonathan on his election as Vice President.
He said the business community in Russia “is very keen to do business and invest in Nigeria, noting, however, that the Russians' experience is a source for concern."
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