Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari (C) answers journalists’ questions during his first presidential media chat in Abuja, on December 30, 2015. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said he had no new intelligence on the whereabouts of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped almost two years ago, and that his government was ready to negotiate with any ‘credible leadership’ of Boko Haram to secure their release. / AFP / SUNDAY AGHAEZEDespite a sea of soldiers sent by President Muhammadu Buhari to restore peace in the troubled Niger Delta region, frequent attacks on oil installations by Niger Delta Avengers have crashed Nigeria’s oil output from 2.2 million barrels a day to about 1.5 million.
On Thursday, Chevron announced that all its onshore operations had been grounded after the Niger Delta Avengers blew up its facility’s main electricity feed in Delta State on Wednesday night.
The militant group said on Twitter that it had warned Chevron but the company didn’t listen. It has given oil companies till the end of May to leave. The militants say they are fighting for the independence of the Niger Delta.
Oil companies in Nigeria often talk exclusively to foreign media, ignoring questions asked by Nigerian journalists, and on Thursday, a company source told Reuters that “all activities in Chevron are grounded” onshore, while oil industry sources said roughly 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Escravos were gone due to the latest attack and another on Chevron’s offshore facilities earlier this month. Planned Escravos exports in the first half of 2016 averaged 167,000 bpd.
In its 2016 budget, President Buhari made oil projections based on a 2.2 million barrel production a day, but now with only 1.5 million, the government seemed to be taking a softer approach on Thursday.
Mr. Buhari had earlier said that there would not be negotiations with Niger Delta militants and had sent in truckloads of soldiers to crush the Avengers, but British Foreign Minister, Philip Hammond had warned this month that force alone will not work and called on Mr. Buhari to address the root causes.
On Thursday, Nigeria’s government admitted that it needed to address grievances in the oil-producing Niger Delta, the oil minister said hours after the Chevron attack.
Mr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said an amnesty programme for former militants, signed in 2009 to end a previous insurgency, needed to improve. Buhari had reduced finding to that Amnesty and cancelled contracts given to Niger Delta militants to protect oil installations.
Reuters quoted the oil minister as saying that the amnesty programme needed to address “neglect by the government and international oil companies,” Kachikwu said. The scheme had funded cash benefits and job training to militants who have laid down their arms but has been cut by the government by two-thirds, fuelling dissent.
“The Niger Delta governors must be involved in providing lasting solutions to the resurgence of pipeline vandalism and there is urgent need to create business opportunities for the locals in the region,” Kachikwu said in a statement.
Also, a committee set up by Delta state leaders warned that a military approach would not work and saw “an apparent consensus” that the federal government and oil companies have neglected the grievances of local communities.