FG Appeals For Dialogue With Niger Delta Avengers...

The federal government says it is ready to dialogue with the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) and other militant groups in the Niger Delta region.

According to Premium Times, the secretary to the government of the federation, Babachir Lawal, said on Saturday, July 2, that the presence of soldiers in the region does not mean the government was opposed to dialogue. He said there is need for the government to identify the representatives of the militants before a dialogue can occur.

He said: “Government is not averse to discussing with them (militants) but we need to know who is in charge and who we can discuss with meaningfully; that’s the dilemma of the government at the moment. “There are so many groups making it difficult to know who to talk to and the level of control that group will bring to the process.”

Lawal, who pointed out that the activities of the militants were more inimical to the region than other parts of the country, appealed to leaders of Niger Delta communities to call the militants to order.

“When they blow up oil pipelines, the spill destroys their water and lands, a development that will take years to recover. They are more victims than the rest of Nigerians,” he said.

Meanwhile the NDA have reported about their new attacks on oil and gas producing facilities belonging to Chevron, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The group in a series tweets claimed responsibility for attacks on Friday, Saturday night and early Sunday morning on at least five facilities in Delta state.

The group consistently has rejected dialogue with the government and is demanding resource control for the Niger Delta region. Meanwhile, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state has issued a warning to the federal government security outfit in the Niger Delta region on how they handle militants in the region.

Dickson, who specifically cautioned Rear Admiral Joseph Okojie, the new commander of the Operation Delta when he received him on Friday in Yenagoa, the state capital, asked them the security agency to be professional.

Speaking through his chief press secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, the governor harped on the importance of allowing the security agents to be neutral in dealing with criminal activities.

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