President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the chief of naval staff to reorganise
and strengthen the military joint task force (JTF) in the region to deal
effectively with the resurgence of militancy and the sabotage of oil
installations.
Buhari disclosed this while speaking at a meeting with the
global director (upstream) of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, Andrew Brown, in
Abuja on Friday.
According to a statement issued by Garba Shehu, presidential
spokesman, the president assured oil companies operating in the Niger Delta
that the federal government was taking all necessary actions to protect
strategic assets in the region from vandals and criminals.
The president told Brown that the operations of the JTF were
also being enhanced with increased support and cooperation from the United
States and Europe in the areas of training, intelligence, equipment and
logistics.
“We have to be very serious with the situation in the Niger
Delta because it threatens the national economy. I assure you that everything
possible will be done to protect personnel and oil assets in the region,” he
said.
The president urged aggrieved persons, militants and
communities in the Niger Delta to drop their confrontational stance and work
with those who have been charged by the federal government to review the
amnesty programme initiated by the administration of the late President Umar
Musa Yar’Adua.
Buhari praised the resilience and staying power of Shell in
Nigeria despite the operational challenges of the environment.
He urged the company to do its best to end gas-flaring in
the Niger Delta quickly and produce more gas for electricity generation to
support manufacturing and job creation in the country.
Brown had appealed for an urgent solution to rising crime
and militancy in the Niger Delta.
The Shell executive also dispelled speculations that the
company was pulling out of Nigeria.
He said that contrary to such speculations, Shell was
currently in discussions with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC) on new joint oil and gas projects.
