Vice President Yemi Osinbajo

The Federal Government began moves to curtail the upsurge of militancy and attacks on oil installations in Niger Delta which have succeeded in cutting the country’s oil production by at least 50 per cent in the past few weeks with a meeting between Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and stakeholders in the oil producing region and service chiefs at Aso Rock presidential villa, Abuja on Tuesday.

A key outcome of the meeting was  de-escalation of the ongoing military buildup in response to the activities of Niger Delta Avengers, the militant group which has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks and has vowed to continue attacks on the oil installations until Nigeria’s oil production is brought to zero.

The meeting, according to spokesperson for the Vice President, Laolu Akande was convened on the instruction of President Muhammadu Buhari who is not the country with the aim of developing common strategies between the federal government and Niger Delta states on to deal with the  resurgent militant attacks on the nation’s oil installations.

Governors from Niger Delta states, three ministers and military service chiefs attended the meeting which was held behind closed doors to forge a common strategy to halt what is considered by both federal and state governments as acts of economic sabotage by the militants.

At the end of the meeting, which lasted over two hours, it was made known that the federal government is proceeding on a collaborative strategy with the governments, communities in the Niger Delta region and other relevant stakeholders towards tackling the situation holistically.

Disclosing this at the end of the meeting, Delta State Ifeanyi Okowa who briefed State House Correspondents said the meeting identified the need for synergy between the federal and the state governments as a very important step going forward.

Elaborating on the collaboration, Governor Okowa said “one thing that we have identified is the synergy between the federal government and states is very important and this meeting has actually revealed a lot of issues and we believe that the collaboration between the Federal Government and States would help us to tackle the issues in the Niger Delta”

Governor Okowa disclosed that a lot of decisions were taken at the meeting after they were briefed by Service Chiefs.

He said “we have taken a lot of decisions which we think will help us to mitigate what is going on currently in the states particularly in Delta and Bayelsa”, reiterating the belief that “we are going to find a solution very soon”.

Still on the outcome of the meeting, he added that it was decided that military presence in the region should be de-escalated, though it was agreed that the forces should be kept to provide security and presence while government begins immediate engagement process with the communities in the affected areas.

Asked by press about the fate of the amnesty programme, Governor Okowa noted that the Presidential Adviser on the Amnesty Programme briefed the meeting and stated that the programme was actually still on-going. He added that“we have a Special Adviser in charge of Amnesty and he is doing a lot of work.”

Those at the meeting were Governors from the Niger Delta states which include Governors of Edo, Ondo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Abia, and the Deputy Governor of Cross River. On the side of the federal government were the Minister of Defense, Rtd. Major General Mohammed Dan Ali, Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. Ibe Kachikwu. Military service chiefs were also in attendance led by the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt.Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin and all the Service Chiefs who briefed the meeting on the security situation in the region.