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Warri: Obasanjo deploys 900 mobile policemen

Vanguard (Lagos)
NEWS
August 20, 2003
Posted to the web August 20, 2003

By Charles Ozoemena & Emmanuel Aziken

ABUJA - PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo ordered, yesterday, the deployment of 900
more mobile policemen in troubled Warri as part of the effort to restore peace
to the city.
He is also scheduled to meet today in Abuja with the security agencies and Gov.
James Ibori of Delta State who cut short his vacation abroad to take charge of
the situation. Today's meeting will discuss ways of bringing about an enduring
peace.
Also, Gov. James Ibori will today be meeting first with Ijaw and Itsekiri
community and political leaders as well as hold security meeting with all the
security forces in Warri.
On the economic side of the mayhem, outgoing Managing Director of Shell, Mr.
Ron Van de Berg said yesterday oil thieves were exploiting the Warri crisis to
steal about 300,000 barrels estimated at N1 billion, daily.
Presidential spokeswoman, Mrs. Remi Oyo, told State House correspondents that
her boss had directed the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, to
closely supervise the nine units of mobile policemen. Each unit has 100
policemen. The squad is being led by AIG in charge of Zone 5, Mr. Gazali Lawal.
Said Mrs. Oyo: "The president is particularly pained that citizens of the same
town, who have been neighbours, and in some cases, relatives for a long time,
have had to resort to violence to resolve their problems."
Government, she said, had resolved to monitor the situation very closely and
"take further action, if it becomes necessary to do so. President Obasanjo
urges all parties to the crisis in Warri to embrace the cause of peace. He
urges all the people of the area not to create further opportunities for
unscrupulous elements to use the crisis as a cover for the continued bleeding
of the national economy through the vandalisation of crude oil pipelines and
theft of petroleum products. President Obasanjo reminds all Nigerians that the
country must have peace to achieve much needed growth and development."
Witnesses said yesterday that sporadic fire were heard from one part of the
city after a relatively peaceful night. "The battalion there is creating a
buffer zone between the two warring communities," Defence spokesman, Colonel
Ganiyu Adewale, said, adding that the troop commander on the ground had asked
for reinforcements. "The request has been granted, and logistics and other
things are now being put in place to enable the reinforcing troops to arrive
immediately, in the next few days," he added.
A spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross and several local residents - including
leaders of the warring Ijaw and Itsekiri factions - confirmed that the fiercest
fighting had died down overnight. But 3,000 people have fled the area to seek
shelter with friends and relatives, Red Cross spokesman, Patrick Bawa, said.
"It is quiet now. There has been no incident since last night. Soldiers and
policemen are patrolling the streets," Johnson Onoro, a local chief among the
city's third ethnic group, the Urhobo, said."But businesses are still shut.
Banks, offices and the NPA (Nigerian Port Authority) are yet to reopen," he
added.
The Anglo-Dutch giant, Shell, said its workers have been directed to stay away
from the firm's Warri office while the trouble continues. "We asked them to go
home pending the resolution of the crisis. Our immediate concern is the safety
of our staff. We hope the problem will be resolved quickly," a spokesman said.
Managing Director of Shell, Mr. Ron Van de Berg, yesterday warned that oil
thieves were exploiting the Warri crisis to milk the country which he said was
losing 300,000 barrels of oil per day estimated at N1 billion daily through the
crisis.
Speaking with newsmen after a meeting with the House of Representatives
Committee on Gas, Mr. Van de Berg expressed grave concerns on the human cost of
the Warri conflict.
While affirming that the human cost was of greater importance to his company,
the Shell boss told newsmen that the Warri conflict posed a serious threat to
the economy of the country through the combined effect of oil thieves and lost
production.
"The crisis is hurting the nation, people are being killed and I find that more
important than the oil shutting. So, people should stop killing each other in
Delta," he pleaded.
"300,000 barrels per day are not being produced and on top of that a lot of oil
is being stolen at night and that, of course, is not good for the economy," the
Shell boss said.
Earlier at a briefing of the House Committee on Gas, Mr. Van de Berg had asked
the Nigerian authorities to give financial bite to the country's commitment to
the NLNG project which he said required at least $2.4 billion for the
commencement of Train 6 of the project. The fund, he said, would be especially
required to ensure that the gas gathering system was put in shape. "The biggest
challenge is not to build Trains 5 and 6, but to make sure that the gas
gathering system is put in shape. If we are not able to gather the gas, then
NLNG Nigeria will be the first LNG project not to fulfill its obligations to
its customers," as he said they needed at least $2.5 billion to concretize its
commitments to the project.
He also pledged the company's commitment to meet the administration's 2008
deadline on stopping the flaring of gas, saying that Shell was working towards
achieving the government objective even before the deadline.
He said the company would move from flaring 1 billion cubic feet of gas daily
to 400,000 cubic feet of gas daily by the first quarter of 2004. Responding to
the presentation, Committee chairman, Chief (Mrs.) Almona-Isei, said it was
important that NLNG met its commitment to its customers, pledging to give
legislative backing to any effort required to sustain the company's viability.
She, however, cautioned that the efforts could only be attained in a stable
polity as she called for peace in the Niger Delta region.

   

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