Recent reports from Nigeria's volatile Niger Delta confirm that 2 days ago insurgents set off multiple dynamite explosions that ripped apart several main oil pipelines and ignited monstrous raging fires that are still being battled by fire-fighters.

Considering that Nigeria's federal and state operating budgets depend almost exclusively on exported crude oil as the primary source of national income, one wonders now if the use of high-explosives by the Niger Delta insurgency is about to catch on and become commonplace, and this naturally leads to speculation about just how long the nation's economy can absorb such massive body blows to the oil pipeline infrastructure without suffering dibilitating and permanent injury.

Is it yet time NOW for Nigeria to officially request US military ground forces and helicopter gunships to police the area, or should the Nigerian government still continue to look "inward" in search of solutions to this rapidly evolving threat. What do you think ?

Oremi .... what are we doing with the US ground force ... ? If they do not want to diversify the economy they should leave it and let them blow the pipe line to pieces... In fact I hope oil dries up. It could sloveabout 40% of our problems and force us to be more inventive.

This state funds you are talking about is used for nothing

As an update, another series of explosions have been recorded within the same 48 hour time-frame, but this time targeting oil pipelines in Edo State. The suspected perpetrators were reported to have fled by speed-boat shortly before each of the explosions.

A coordinated demolition of Nigeria's oil export infrastructure is clearly under way as we speak, and it would be wishful thinking to say that daily life in the rest of Nigeria would be unaffected in the event of sharply escalated hostilities in the Niger Delta.

GbagoClark I wish I could share your philosophical calmness on this matter.  While Nigerian authorities scramble to understand the nature of the new threat in the oil-rich delta, there is no shame in asking Uncle Sam for some recon and ground-attack helicopters to contain the unfolding terrorist assault.  Those reinforcement convoys of federal troops now converging on the burning swamps may well need all the help they can get, if events the last 48 hours are anything to go by.

Shell has declared "force majeur", which practically means that they will no longer be exporting any oil and they believe that this situation is outside the control of the Nigerian Government. Out of the normal 2.5 million barrels per day we produce, Shell produces 1 million and if they stop working, our exports will be reduced by 40% straightway. That's assuming the youths don't spread the attacks to pipelines used by other oil companies. Read http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/12/21/nigeria.pipeline.ap/

Those of you who have said that you would like the oil to run dry so Nigeria can 'improve' should be happy. This is what you've been waiting for. Now let us sit down and watch as Nigeria slowly disintegrates after losing the oil revenue that we depend upon for 95% of our foreign exchange. Let us watch as the price of the dollar rises because the federal government is unable to get any to auction off to the commercial banks. Let us watch as the price of food, petrol, kerosine rise to the sky because we have to import all of them. It won't be very pretty, and the last place I want to be in a time like this is the Niger Delta region.

As usual, the people that lost their lives is not an issue... it is the oil that will stop flowing. The communities that were razed down is not a problem.... it is the oil that flows from their land.

Of all the people welcomed in the homeland, oppresors and their cohorts are not among them. Those that wear the shoe know where it pinches.

Bemoaning the imminent and "slow disintegration" is only the begining. We hope that the oil that has been the source of most of the Niger Delta's problems would indeed stop flowing.
Then security pact, enslavement, pollution, rape, murder, torture, occupation, discrimination etc etc will follow suit. Maybe third term agenda, thugery and the dis-integration of the monster called PDP will join them in the same grave.

If Nigeria was so brilliant as claimed by many, it would have found a way of ensuring that it doesn't depend on the Niger Delta's blood for 95% of its foreign exchange. Long live the homeland.

From all indications, facts and reality....Nigeria is an unviable state..... without the Homeland (Niger Delta) and the Igbo states.

I am concerned about the people that have died. But I know that you Niger Deltans do not value your lives and that is why Niger Deltans can go to a region and set an oil pipeline on fire knowing fully well that other Niger Deltans are going to perish in the explosion. Isn't that really stupid for people who claim that Nigeria is exploiting them? I am not in the habit of feeling sorry for people who don't value their lives. Please, people are dying every day for genuine reasons and not the release of separatist leaders.

Those unfortunate folks, I heard, were warned about the impending doom, but refused to flee. So, they paid dearly for refusing to flee with their lives.

There are some ''dirty'' Niger Deltans in our midst in the Delta. One by one, they and their collaborators, in the SouthWest and the North will reap the wirlwind after sowing the wind. And the folks in the West and North, and even in the East, I bet it's high time they left this siddon look and wait for oil money to share at Abuja, and start looking at Cocoa, rubber, Kolanut, groundnut pyramids and hides and skin to export for foreign exchange. A word is enough for the wise.

Should Asari Dokubo die today, let it be known to all that there are several Asari's in the Delta. And they are ready to die for a just cause.

Should Asari Dokubo die today, let it be known to all that there are several Asari's in the Delta. And they are ready to die for a just cause.

Same goes for the Al Qaeda boys. Terrorists. It's a good thing that governments around the world have learnt that nothing good comes out of negotiating with terrorists. You can be sure that the current administration led by a former military general will not make that mistake of negotiating with these modern-day terrorists. The people that died in the blasts are children who would naturally have been too confused to know where to run when those terrorists came into the area telling people to leave. They are child-killers and enemies of the ordinary people of Niger Delta.

Owo if Nigeria's crude oil pipeline grid is not quickly protected by ADEQUATE military and aerial assets, there will be soon be no oil wealth over which to negotiate, and the innocent civilians you care so much about would sadly bear the brunt of the Niger Delta's hooligan burning, with the survivors inheriting a poisoned and uninhabitable wasteland.

Does anyone know who'se line it was?
Or was it a government controlled pipeline?

Hunter, the first series of explosions targeted Shell's lines in Rivers State   (See the link in Seun's earlier post ).    Ownership of the second bombed pipeline in Edo State isn't clear yet.

It is a shame to say that it is a just course to kill children

@jakumo:... when there is no oil to negotiate... then the prayer is answered.
The parasites will have to look for better means (other than victimisation and dehumanising treatment) to feather their nests.

Never forget that... In the history of conflicts, foreigners have never conquered the inhabitants of a swamp or rainforest.

Those that do not know the real terrorists... should perform their due diligence and maybe ask their counterparts in nothern sudan.

So we have terrorists on this forum. Who would have thought a terrorrist will have the time to participate in discussions with people he is planning to kill.

Yes....
Their cohorts and supporters are also here.
Last week their uni-formed arrowheads called MOPOL shot and killed an innocent villager at Onne - about 40km from the site of the dynamited pipeline.
May God deliver our lands and waters from these from imposters.

Seun I am not happy with the way your going about this thing. Those oil pipelines were not dynamited by youths of Niger Delta. Please stop this misinformation. My people are peace loving. OPC, MASSOB and Bakassi boys did not emanate from the Niger Delta so please stop this misinformation. All through the wahala in Bayelsa nobody was killed. Look at what is happening in Ibadan, your brother have created orphans and widows, even police men and SSS operatives were not spared.

Otokx you must reside outside Bayelsa State, otherwise you would never theorize that killings do not occur in the delta, and you would never fantasize that those crude oil  pipelines were destroyed by anyone other than the aggrieved Niger Delta locals who have forsaken negotiated compensation dialog in order to fan the flames of war by destroying the country's golden goose.

Yes, Ibadan politics has been historically bloody, but at least those folks are not blowing up oil pipelines during their combat.

So, what's the difference btw blowing up oil pipelines in the Delta in order to make a 'statement' and killing lawmakers and causing chaos in Ibadan thereby making another ''statement''. To me folks, this shows that ALL IS NOT WELL WITH THIS COUNTRY.

When the political elephants fight in Ibadan, the "grass" that suffers damage is mostly limited to the ranks of hired combatants, whereas the ongoing clash of the Egbesu and Federal government  "elephants" in the Niger Delta threatens to send the entire nation back into the stone-age, one crude oil pipeline at a time, unless sanity prevails on all sides.

Again.... it shows where the interest lies....in the OIL
What happens (or has been happening) to the human beings created in God's image does not matter to you.

I infer from your comments that -
All the dehumanisation and killings that the Delta has suffered over the decades occasioned by Nigeria's insistence on living off their blood is nothing, neither is it in the stone age.
All the rape, military boys impregnating any and every village girl, occupation and torture is not in the stone age.
All the looting and stealing of the Delta's resources to develop other parts of the country,
without having a commensurate investment in the Delta is not unjust and should be continued.


But, may it be known to you that...
the money that pays teachers and lecturers in the primary, secondary and tertiary intitutions in the west is obtained by keeping the Niger Delta in the Stone age.
The money that is used to subsidise fuel, design and construct road, build schools, pay civil servants, build and run television and radio stations etc in the west in obtained by ensuring that the Delta remains in the stone age.
The money that is used to pay bursary and give scholarships, pump public water, pay the police and the military is gotten by oppressing the Deltans.
The Money that is used to sponsor 'liberation' in countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone is amassed by oppressing the Delta and keeping it under bondage.
The money whose stealing looting is the source of complaints is obtained by coercion, thuggery and keeping the delta in the stone age.
The money/power that they are struggling ( and even killing themselves) to control in Ibadan is obtained and sustained by killing, sacking communities and committing arson in the Niger Delta.

Sanity, to you, must be the continued enforcement of these barbaric, lopsided, unjust, immoral basis of co-existence.

May there arise a generation that will not make the mistakes of our fathers who died on the negotiating tables without obtaining and keeping any inheritance for us. May our Children be born into a society where we control our resources and destiny.

Owo the plight of the Niger Delta's inhabitants is well documented and must be addressed as a matter of top priority.  However,  the Niger Delta people's long-overdue reparations will take the back seat for as long as guerrilla attacks persist in the swamps, as will  indeed be the case if the Nigerian government is slow to respond to unfolding events in the oil fields.

If the US governmet can offer  aerial surveillance of Nigeria's primary world market asset while the injustice of the Niger delta is addressed, that help is well intended and we ought to accept it gratefully.

I just dream of the day when the Delta people will not need anybody - FG & US military or any other body, to fashion out what's good for them.

All these entries talking about how to help develop the Niger Delta people make me sick. It sounds as if the Niger Delta people are morons, and do not know what's good for them. But we all know that this is far from the truth.

I'd rather deal with a 'thieving Niger Delta Brothers' who, when Nemesis eventually catches up with them will remember home - like Alams did by going to Amassoma, rather than some outsiders, who will eventually use the proceeds of their loots to benefit their generations yet unborn!

The devil you know, and live with, is better than some strange angels in far away lands.

Your 'understanding' of this and similar issues in this forum is appreciated. However, it is important to take note of what has been written by Ono.
The problems are not happening in the 'oilfields'.... these are people's villages, farmlands, fishing grounds and burial places. Infact these are our inheritance.

Why must others..(the larger Nigeria, US etc) be the ones to manage, control or exploit them for us. Are we managing, controlling or exploiting their inheritance for them? This is the fundamental question. Niger Deltans are not stupid.

It hurts when 'lesser' mortals who do not even know how to keep their village clean... insist that they are the 'experts' in managing our lives for us. This we will resist and overcome...sooner than later.

i wish i could bind the whole crude oil in the niger delta and cast into the south west of Nigeria forever. Look at other countries that have only this black gold and desert; you will see so much development. Let me say it loud and clear, the people blowing up this pipelines are not the poor inhabitants. By the time those villagers carry jerry cans to scoop the remnants, the big thieves who have the security of the armed forces of nigeria have carried so much in big barges not even trailers. They are further assisted by russians, and other foreign elements.

PORT HARCOURT, 21 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - Attackers blew up an oil pipeline on Tuesday sparking a major fire killing eight children in southern Nigeria, said residents and industry officials.

The blast at a Royal Dutch Shell facility 50 km southwest of the oil town of Port Harcourt, rocked villages in the early hours of Tuesday.

“So far no fewer than eight children have been roasted and their corpses have been recovered,” said Mowan Etete, a spokesman for the Andoni ethnic minority worst-hit by the resulting oil spill, told reporters.

Burning crude quickly swept through creeks and waterways setting alight several villages and fishing settlements built on stilts or along the water’s edge.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50814 (baby-killers )

Seun, abeg, just chill jo! How many Niger Delta children wey Federal Authorities don kill in the Delta since 1958, when crude oil was discovered in commercial quantities in Oloibiri, in present day Bayelsa state? Not even children only, the blood of Ken Saro Wiwa, Adaka Boro etc etc are crying for justice. Even the land use act decree of 1978 is still in force not because the law was meant to protect the interest of everyone, but to perpetuate the milking of the Niger Delta lands.

This justice demands that everyone should concentrate on their Godgiven resources (Cocoa, Groundnut Pyramids, Onions, Hides and skin, rubber, palm produce, tomato, tin, coal, limestone, gold, etc etc, which the almighty God in his infinite wisdom has bestowed on this country) and harness them for the good of all rather than waiting for crude oil money from the delta to be shared by a large chunk of those who do not even know what the colour of crude oil is at Abuja. Abuja is what it is today because crude oil money was pumped, and is still being pumped there to maintain it. Pump all that money into Warri, Yenagoa, PortHarcourt, Uyo, and Calabar economy and see the U turn in our fortunes.

All these your 'concern' for dead kids smacks of crocodile tears for all I care. You are even weeping more than the bereaved! Na wa o!

Those of us who have managed to survive the onslaught on our lands by successive administration of this failed country called Nigeria will not stop until justice is done and 'is seen' to be done.

13% of the money that is made in the Niger Delta states (like Bayelsa) go to the state government. What are they doing with all that money? Why don't you blame your thieving governors?

First it was OMPADEC, then, PTF and now NDDC plus the 13% derivation....why have you not asked why these programmes have not worked. Why have the state governors not questioned contracts and their non-completion? Imagine where a road is to constructed for a local lcommunity, the locals will want settlement (compensation) first. How do you hope to grow in that regard?

It seems you do not understand us. Let our Governors steal everything that comes to our state - if that's really true, I'm yet to see it in Warri, because Ibori has done very well here in Delta State even though some folks say he's stealing the state's money. We like it that way than to allow a clique in foreign lands to come here and pauperise us the more.

Leave our governors alone. The bad ones among them will be punished by our people when the time comes, besides, it's better that they stole now and still remember home in the end. A lot of our brothers will still benefit from their loot, or who else do you think they will want to help with it?

Let the Federal Government account for the remaining 87% - since 1958. How much has the components states in the country contributed to the national purse since 1958? Delta State alone contributed some 5 trillion naira to the Federal coffers in 2004! How much did Ogun State contribute? Abeg, make una go siddon!

ono:

Let the Federal Government account for the remaining 87% - since 1958. How much has the components states in the country contributed to the national purse since 1958? Delta State alone contributed some 5 trillion naira to the Federal coffers in 2004 ! How much did Ogun State contribute? Abeg, make una go siddon!

@Ono
Sorry to jump into the midst of this argument. Me thinks that your figure is wrong. I also think there are 2 explanations for that;
1. You dont know the right figures
2. You know the right thing but you are trying to mislead so as to bolster your argument.
Whatever the case you have misrepresented the facts.
Check out the maths below
[/b]5 trillion naira converted to dollars @ between 130 - 140 to a dollar will give equivalent of $35.7 and $38.5 billion.
[b]$35.7 and $38.5 billion at an average price of $39 per barrel will give between 940million and 1billion barrels of total production from Delta  state alone.
[b][/b]The daily production to achieve that will be in the range of 2.57 and 2.77million barrels per day (940million to 1billion divided by 365 days)
[b][/b]In actual fact Delta state does not produce this much a day. Nigeria achieved highest output ever this [b][/b]year at 2.45million (from all the states and deep water prospects).
[b][/b]To further put holes in your argument, Nigeria only owns 51% of the JV operations. So Delta will need to [b][/b]produce btw 5 and 5.4 million barrels a day to contribute 5trillion to the coffers of the nation
[b][/b]It gets more interesting; if you consider cash call requirements accruals will be less.
So my brother, look b4 you leap dont just jump to conclusions.
Have a happy discussion.

Yep! Thank you very much for the correction. I actually meant 5 trillion naira from the inception of the civilian administration to date. That is 1999 - 2005. At least, that's what the Former Commissioner of Finance, Delta State, Dr. David Edevbie said. And that's a good enough source.

So, what did the other components of the country - including Ogun State, contribute to the national purse?

You can leave out the Niger Delta states of Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa-ibom.

So, please tell me what has the other components of our lopsided Federation contributed to the common purse? Abi na to just dey go Abuja to go share the national cake una sabi do? That Cake go soon choke una for throat, if una no leave am. E don even start sef. Pipelines don dey blow!

We're watching and waiting.