The majority of militants who took part in an amnesty last year in the restive Niger Delta region are still behind the peace plans despite a resurgence in attacks, Nigerian Oil Minister Rilwanu Lukman said in Vienna yesterday.
Nigerian militants detonated two car bombs outside a government building in the southern oil city of Warri on Monday where talks were being held about implementing an amnesty program.
The attacks, claimed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), are the first by Nigeria’s biggest militant group since the amnesty program began last year and are a major setback for Acting President Goodluck Jonathan as his government also tries to calm ethnic tensions in the center of the country.
Jonathan has made reviving an amnesty program and restoring peace in the Niger Delta a priority since he took over from the nation’s sick president, Umaru Yar’Adua.
“I encourage the Niger Delta people and major companies in the region to keep faith with government, as we are determined to reinvigorate post-amnesty plans and programs for the region,” Jonathan said in a statement on Monday.
TAKING A STAND
MEND said the explosions were meant to “announce our continued presence” and warned of renewed attacks against the oil industry in the coming days.
The government, however, believes the majority of the thousands of militants who laid down their weapons in the amnesty deal were still behind the peace plan, Lukman said ahead of an OPEC meeting in Vienna.
“Most of them are on board,” he said.
“Very generous provisions were made for the militants in the amnesty. They’re being re-trained, re-habilitated and many things are being done. It is a matter of continuing to do what we can,” Lukman said.
The program was the most concerted effort yet to end years of unrest which have prevented the OPEC member from producing much above two-thirds of its 3 million barrels per day (bpd) oil capacity, costing it around US$1 billion a month in lost revenue.
Lukman said the country’s oil and gas industry was producing well below capacity as damage to oil facilities from attacks continued to restrict production.
“Condensate [production] is about 600,000 barrels per day and ordinary crude is around 1.7 [million bpd]. Total is around 2.3. You have to take that out of about 3.7, which is the capacity,” he said.
OPEC will meet today to discuss output targets after members agreed to slash 4.2 million bpd from output to curb supply in December 2008 as the global economic downturn hit demand.
ELECTIONS
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced yesterday that a presidential election would be held on Jan. 22 or April 23 next year, depending on the outcome of electoral reforms before parliament.
The current presidential term ends in May next year and elections are due by next April under the present system. But a reform bill before parliament could bring the polls forward to late 2010 or early next year.
INEC chairman Maurice Iwu said that until a notice of poll is issued either on Aug. 2 or Nov. 1, the provisional dates could still be modified.
“We have prepared two provisional schedules for the elections,” Iwu said at a presentation in the capital Abuja.
The presidential poll would be preceded by elections into the federal and state assemblies, and state governorships.
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