THE Niger Delta Avengers has denied ever entering into any ceasefire agreement with the Federal Government on the ongoing hostilities in the Niger Delta region.
The group which had claimed responsibility for series of attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta region denied the feat which some Nigerian media celebrated gleefully on Tuesday.
“The NDA High Command never remembers having any agreement on ceasefire with the Nigerian Government,” the group said in a post on its twitter handle.
Nigerian media had reported Tuesday the central government had brokered a 30-day truce with militants waging war on oil installations in the Niger Delta.
The Niger Delta Avengers surfaced in late spring to declare war on national and international oil companies working in the Niger Delta region. Complaining the government is putting oil interests over the interests of the people in the region, the group last claimed responsibility for an attack on an oil pipeline in the region June 15.
Nigerian newspaper This Day reports delegates from the government of Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari agreed last week on “30 days of quiet” with militants. The deal was brokered by a team led by Nigerian Oil Minister Ibe Kachikwu.
Citing a source close to the negotiations, the Nigerian newspaper said the minister brokered through back channels in an effort to address sweeping militant demands. The period of quiet gives the Buhari administration time to come up with a more comprehensive plan.
“You would have noticed that there have been no bombings of oil assets in recent days,” the source said. “This is the fall out of the 30 days of quiet reached with the minister and his team.”
But the NDA denied being involved in any such arrangement.
Meanwhile, a new militant group, Ultimate Warriors of the Niger Delta, UWND, with alleged alliance with a foreign organisation,on Tuesday, gave the Federal Government ultimatum to commence implementation of portions of the 2014 National Conference, which created a road map for the rapid development of the region or expect a violent change in the next three years. Similarly, Niger Delta Patriotic Front, said that the purported 30-day ceasefire allegedly brokered with militants in Delta state was a ploy by the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, and its promoters to deceive President Buhari.
In early June, Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said the government was “talking” in an effort to minimize the losses incurred during attacks on oil installations.
According to the vice president, the Buhari administration is working “to ensure that the man on the street in the Niger Delta receives the benefit from all that is available there.”
The campaign in the Niger Delta comes at a time when the nation’s economy is struggling under the strains of low crude oil prices. In its latest survey, the International Monetary Fund said the challenges for Nigeria’s economy are “substantial,” government deficit has doubled and inflation is running close to 10 percent.
Of the 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Nigeria ranks seventh in terms of overall production. By OPEC’s estimates, militant activity has pushed Nigerian crude oil production to its lowest level in more than a decade.
By the World Bank’s estimates, more than 70 percent of the government revenue comes from oil.
