Buhari Orders Two-Week Suspension of Military Operations in Niger Delta to Enable Dialogue

Buhari Orders Two-Week Suspension of Military Operations in Niger Delta to Enable Dialogue

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered a two-week suspension of military operations in the Niger Delta to give the opportunity to militants to dialogue with the government, the Vanguard has said.  

According to the newspaper, the  Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, told journalists in Abuja on Monday that the government has set up a team to explore talks with the militants and restore peace in the region that has been ravaged by series of bombings on oil facilities, and clashes between soldiers and militants recently.

The team led by the NSA and Dr Kachikwu will be in discussions with the relatively new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, which has claimed responsibility for most of the bombings in the region in recent months.

“The President is interested in dialogue and has mandated the military to halt actions for about two weeks to ensure a team that will be led by the NSA, dialogues with the militants to ensure peace in the region. This is coming as more oil companies in the Niger Delta have reviewed their operations, following continued bombing of their facilities in Delta and Bayelsa states. Avenue open to militants,” says Kachikwu

‘’The avenue is open for them, provided the militants are willing to embrace dialogue and allow truth to reign because we are going to involve key leaders from the region who have had previous experience in that area to play whatever role they can”.

The minister re-iterated that they were making contacts with everybody who is involved; the ones that they could identify, through them, the ones that they can’t identify so that there would be a lot more inclusiveness in this dialogue. According to him: “Our prayer is that this works so that we resort to dialogue rather than use of force”

The minister also said the government was not only committed to securing oil and gas installations but the lives and property of people in the region. He said he was hopeful  that the dialogue would yield positive results and get Nigeria back to maximum production as the country was currently producing about 1.6mbpd, about 600,000 barrels, short of the 2.2mbpd production target of the 2016 budget.