Hope that peace is finally returning to the Niger Delta has been violently shaken with a new militant group, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, has blown up a pipeline belonging to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) in Delta State, Southern Nigeria.
The group said in a statement through its spokesman Aldo Agbalaja, that it blew up the pipeline on Sunday, September 18, 2016.
This is the fourth attack on an NPDC pipeline by the militant group.
The NPDC is yet to comment on the recent attack.
Recurring attacks on oil and gas facilities by militants in the Niger Delta region has cut the country’s crude production — which stood at 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) at the start of the year — to around 700,000 bpd.
The attacks have slashed output at a time when Nigeria is grappling with low global crude prices which have hammered government revenues, weakening the naira currency and pushing up inflation to near 11-year highs.
A militant group in the region, Niger Delta Avengers has agreed to a ceasefire and a dialogue with the Nigerian government. (TV360 Nigeria)
