Nigeria loses N3.74bn per day to N/Delta war- Vanguard Newspaper

Figure excludes cost of military hardware, oil pipelines, houses destroyed
* FG's amnesty offer divides militants
*Henry Okah's deputy ready to lay down arms
*MEND gives 72-hour quit notice to oil companies

THE national economy may have lost $25,278,000 (N3.74 billion) per day in the last two weeks of May occasioned by the hostilities in Delta State between the Joint Task Force, (JTF) and militants.

Already, discordant tunes are beginning to emerge from the camp of the main militants group in the region - Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta - with its deputy leader, ‘General’ Boyloaf declaring his intention and that of his followers to lay down their arms and accept the amnesty offered by the Federal Government.


He spoke just 24 hours after MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo, in an open letter to President Umaru Yar’Adua, said the amnesty amounted to nothing to the group.


Gbomo dismissed the Godwin Abbe Panel Report on the amnesty issue as worthless. How economy loses N3.74 billion daily


This amount works out at an average crudeoil price of $66 per barrel for May. Before the commencement of the hostilities, the country’s crude oil output averaged 1.763 million barrels per day in April. Sunday Vanguard investigation showed that the country’s condensate output which is not included in OPEC calculations was in excess of 200,000 barrels per day in April. The N3.74 billion per day loss excludes the costs of military hardware, oil pipelines, houses, palace, farms and canoes / boats that have gone with the war.


It also does not include the huge man hours and lives - soldiers, militants and innocent men and women that have been wasted. The JTF declared 18 soldiers including two officers missing in action, and confirmed 17 rifles lost. Besides, it lost some gunboats.

The militants loyal to Government Ekpemupolo alias Tompolo also suffered heavy casualties while their armoury at Camp 5 was seized by the JTF. Hundreds of residents of Okerenkoko, Oporozo, Kurutie, Kunukunumo and other Gbaranmantu communities remain displaced from their homes and jobs. Many, if not all of them, are itching to return home. Fishing and farming which are the main occupations of the people have been suspended. The situation at their camps is precarious and there are fears that an epidemic may break out there which will add to their prevailing woes.

Petroleum Resources Minister denies shut in caused by military operation: However, Petroleum Resources Minister, Dr. Rilwan Lukman, denied any shut in on account of the military operation, contrary to figures obtained by Sunday Vanguard from the affected oil producers which showed that total output had dropped to 1.38 million barrels per day with up to 383,000 b/d affected by the crisis. Last month, Chevron issued a statement declaring force majeure on 100,000 b/d following an attack on its pipeline in the western Niger Delta. Agip had also declared force majeure on some production in the Bayelsa area. Shell declined to say anything but withdrew staff from the area.


It was also gathered that following the military onslaught and technical shut in, total output fell to 1.38 million barrels per day. At an average 60 per cent equity ownership of the joint venture operations in the upstream oil industry indications are that losses incurred by the Federal Government amount to $15.16 million (about N2.2billion) per day.

Similarly, at an average 40 per cent equity ownership of the joint venture operations in the same upstream oil industry, the losses incurred by the multinational oil companies are in the region of $10.1million (about N1.49 billion) loss per day. Although, official release of May production figures from the OPEC is still awaited, total crude oil production in April averaged 28.1 mb/d based on secondary sources, representing an increase of 221 b/d from the previous month.


OPEC production excluding Iraq stood at 25.8 mb/d, up 224 tb/d from the previous month. This is the first increase since July 2008. The total losses incurred by government, private companies and individuals may not even ever be known. However, apart from the global economic meltdown that has affected the nation’s economy, the war in the creeks is clearly compounding the situation. Only recently, the Federal Government declared its inability to implement the over N3 trillion budget approved by the National Assembly. The two sides are yet to sort out their differences on the matter.


MEND leader, Boyloaf accepts amnesty
* Says I and my men’re ready to drop our arms


However, acting leader of MEND, ‘General’ Boyloaf, said yesterday he and other members of the militant group were ready to lay down their arms and accept the amnesty being offered by the Federal Government. He said the ongoing conflict between some groups in the Gbaramatu, Delta State and the JTF was not a MEND affair and the combatants should stop dragging MEND into it.

General Boyloaf who is the second-in-command to the detained Henry Okah, in an interview with Sunday Vanguard said, “What I am saying is that I am prepared to lay down my arms and embrace the amnesty President Umaru Yar’Adua has offered militants and it covers militants in the entire region. “Anybody telling you any other thing to the contrary is not telling you the truth. Publish it, say that I, Boyloaf said so”.


Boyloaf is believed to be the foremost field commander of MEND and wields a lot of influence among the militants. He said, “The Federal Government said that for it to develop the Niger-Delta it needs peace. We have decided to give them peace and watch and see whether they are ready or not to develop the region”. Asked if his decision to accept amnesty was not because the JTF was closing in on him after overrunning Camp 5, Boyloaf said, “No, it has nothing to do with the Cordon and Search operation of the JTF. As far as I am concerned, we should accept the amnesty. Some people should not just be using us in the name of Niger-Delta struggle to line their own pockets.


“When they collected money from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for pipeline, they did not inform us, they did not distribute the money to us, they gave a statement that they are protecting pipeline and that they arrested people and handed them over to the JTF, did they consult us? “Now, let nobody deceive you, it is the Ijaw Youth Leadership Forum and the Federated Niger-Delta Ijaw Communities that are fighting this battle, they should not drag MEND into it.

I am telling you this as a leader of MEND, we are not fools and they should not treat us as fools”. He does not believe JTF soldiers deliberately went out to attack people in Camp 5, saying the soldiers were on escort duty, but, it was because they hijacked a tanker and did not want to release it that sparked the current war in the creeks.

“Nobody should tell me it is Niger-Delta struggle to hijack a tanker”, he said, adding, “If they fail in their mission, they should not use us to cover their shame. By hijacking a tanker, is that not sea piracy, Count MEND out of it, we are not part of it, it is not our fight, those who own the fight should fight their fight and leave us alone.” He said any statement contrary to his and claiming to be from MEND should be discountenanced, as he is the acting leader at the moment and the position of the group “is what I have just told you”.

Boyloaf is not straightforward: A top official of Camp 5 who spoke on the condition of anonymity to Sunday Vanguard said, “Don’t mind Boyloaf. He is talking as if he is a straightforward person, he is not. Camp 5 was the first to embrace the Federal Government peace process and he (Boyloaf) was accusing us of selling out, is it not the same thing he is talking about now?”

“We have said that we should allow peace reign before in the region so that the Federal Government will have the opportunity to develop the region, he said he would not lay down his arms. Why is he saying he is ready to lay down his arms now? This is what we told him long ago and he refused”, he explained. “The Ijaw Youth Leadership Forum (IYLF) is an umbrella body of Ijaw youth leaders throughout the Niger-Delta region, which has contributed to the peace process with the Federal Government and it’s headed by Mr. Ogoriba, so Boyloaf cannot say that the IYLF and FNDIC caused the problem in Gbaramatu”.


“Everybody knows that there is peace in Delta State and Camp 5 was involved in ensuring that peace, we are not denying that because we have accepted peace. What I am also saying is that Boyloaf should not paint us in bad light because he is seeing the need for peace today, which we saw many years ago. However, I leave God to judge him, since he said we are on our own, he is also on his own”, he said.


Quit now, MEND tells oil companies: Even as Boyloaf spoke yesterday, MEND in a statement by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, gave a “final” warning to local and foreign oil workers to quit the region. His words: “This is a final warning from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to local and foreign workers in the oil services and exploration companies to vacate the region within the next 72 hours due to an imminent attack”.

“The warning also applies to greedy individuals from oil communities tempted to carry out repair contracts on pipelines already destroyed”. “Some may wonder if this warning is not the case of “crying wolf” when an element of surprise will make more sense. Unlike the Nigerian military, MEND is careful to avoid civilian casualties”. “Hurricane Piper Alpha”, it added, “will not discriminate on tribe, nationality, or race when it sweeps across the region. A word is enough for the wise”.


JTF destroys 2 more militant camps: Meanwhile, the JTF continued with its operation in the region, weekend, as it destroyed two militant training camps at Chanomi Creek and its environs. Its spokesman, Colonel Rabe Abubakar described the exercise as another giant stride. The militant camps are Bulobala Camp and Iroko Camp Annex allegedly used by Tompolo in training his fresh recruits and MEND’s senior fighters, respectively. “The JTF wants Niger Deltans generally and the Ijaw ethnic group in particular, to know that it has no iota of interest in dealing with anybody or group but, the militants or the criminals, as the case may be, which could be proved by the latest destruction of these two camps.

“We also wish, once again, to extend our invitation to all those living within the Chanomi Creek and beyond, to contribute their own quota as patriotic citizens for peace attainment by exposing to JTF or other security agencies, the hideouts of notorious elements as security is everybody’s business. “We promise once again that, our resolve to search for criminals and uproot them from whichever taproot will persist. All these are done in good faith – that of sanitizing the Niger Delta communities and returning its people to normal lives”, Abubakar asserted.


... Wipes out illegal local refinery at Oginibo: Also, the security outfit, acting on a tip-off has once again located and destroyed another illegal local refinery at Oginibo community, Ughelli South local government area of Delta State. “The illegal refiners fled before the arrival of the troops. All the refining equipments were also destroyed and the area set ablaze to discourage the refiners from re-grouping”, Col Abubakar said yesterday.

“A Mitsubishi motorcycle was recovered from the scene before the destruction. The security outfit wants to reiterate its desire to stamp out this and other criminal activities in the region. The Task Force is poised to sustain its war on not only illegal local refineries but also on all criminalities associated with crude oil theft. The JTF is hereby warning all those who want to use this opportunity to perpetrate criminalities in the region to desist from such act as the security outfit are fully equipped to deal with all manners of criminalities simultaneously”.

Cultists, bunkers flee in Buguma: “In a related development”, he added, “a group of cultists/bunkerers along Buguma waterway in Rivers State were intercepted by the patrol team of JTF while trying to carry out their nefarious activities of stealing crude oil. They fled on sighting the patrol team. Items recovered from the illegal bunkerers are a pumping machine, two cutting saws and a shifting screw. The troops are watching and monitoring the situation closely to avert similar incident”