Niger Delta: USA Ready To Help Nigeria Establish Peace..

John Bray, the USA consular general to Nigeria, said that his country was ready to help the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to end the ongoing violence in the South-South region by Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups.‎‎

Vanguard reports that Bray said this on Wednesday, May 25, while visiting the former national chairman of Association of Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria and Pere of Seimbiri Kingdom in Delta state, HRM Charles Ayemi-Botu, at his Edjeba Palace Annexe in Warri.

“We are looking at whatever we can do to assist the Nigerian government in establishing a peaceful, prosperous region in the South-South of Nigeria,” Bray said.

Commenting on the US consular general’s visit, HRM Ayemi-Botu said that Bray paid him a visit to seek solution to renewed militancy and the recent bombings of oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta region.

“He said he was coming to visit me as the Niger Delta is boiling viz-a-viz the recent bombing of oil pipelines and that he ‎would like to find out the solutions to stop the bombing.”

“He observed that immediately after the elections of last year, things were very peaceful, but from January this year, things started changing, so he wanted a way out".

“Physically, they had wanted how they can create an enabling environment to ensure that peace reigns because it is when there is peace that there is development,” he said. HRM Ayemi-Botu urged President Buhari to dialogue with the militants and see the region as part of his primary constituency.

Meanwhile, the federal government has already begun making moves to address the resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta. During a strategic meeting with over 50 militant leaders, the government team appealed to them to stop further destruction of critical government oil assets but to seek peaceful means of expressing their grievances