At a time that many Nigerians are settling into year 2017 and looking forward to a respite from the hard and dry days of 2016 in which the term, recession, became street lingo, it is worrisome that war drums are once again sounding in the Niger Delta.

Within the past fortnight, the federal government and   some Niger Delta militant groups have been exchanging words much in the manner of market-women. The only difference is that the argument, in this instance, is not about the price of tomatoes, or which trader failed to clean her frontage during the environmental sanitation exercise.

The bone of contention between the authorities and the militants is the oil resource in the belly of the Niger Delta and the insistence of some of the militants to continue bombing oil facilities to bring Nigeria to its knees, until President Muhammadu Buhari bows to their will by meeting certain conditions that they have set out for his government.

It is sad that at this time that the hostilities in the region initially appeared to be tapering off, and oil production   and national revenue are on an upward swing, there seems to be a breakdown of the talks that brought about the brief respite.

The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), which has claimed responsibility for much of the destruction of oil facilities in the region, sounded the alert on impending attacks on oil facilities in the first week of this year, when it accused the federal government of insincerity in the talks with the militant groups and threatened resumption of attacks on oil production infrastructure.

The group regretted the inability of the government to reach a deal with their representative, Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), led by Chief Edwin Clark. It said it had placed its fighters on red alert for Operations Walls of Jericho and Hurricane Joshua and would “knock and hit the enemy very hard.” The group said the government had failed to continue with dialogue on the 16 conditions the militants gave for peace in the region, since they heeded the appeals of the region’s leaders and some notable countries, and stopped the attacks on oil infrastructure towards the end of last year.

It argued that the government had, instead, gone around to “politicize and blackmail the process” to forestall genuine negotiations. It, therefore, vowed to “redeem Operation Red Economy” unannounced but with “overwhelming signatures to the federal government and humanity.”

The Federal Government, in its response, issued a fresh warning to the militants. Speaking through Defence Headquarters, the government read the Riot Act to the militants, warning that it would protect all oil facilities and not condone their destruction.

This war-mongering by the government and the militants does not give hope for peace in the region. It is reassuring, however, that the Federal Government has since extended a hand to the Niger Delta with the resumption of the payment of the stipends paid to the ex-militants and the recent visit of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to the area. Hopefully, initiatives such as these will help to quell the restiveness in the region and keep the Nigerian economy on an even keel.

It is unarguable that the incessant bombing of oil facilities has a serious deleterious effect on the nation’s economy. It is partly the reason why many of the state governments can no longer pay the salaries of their workers. It is also the reason that there is a lull in the ability of the different levels of government in the country to meet some of their responsibilities to the people.

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The stoppage of hostilities towards the end of 2016 had led to a significant increase in the country’s oil production level. Before they stopped the vandalism, daily oil production level had fallen to 900,000 barrels per day, out of the 2.2 million bpd production target. It is good that the peace in the region is sustained so that oil production can continue rising and the nation’s finances can improve to get it out of the present debilitating recession.

PANDEFF, the umbrella body of Niger Delta leaders, has taken umbrage at the N29 billion voted to fight militancy in the region in the 2017 Budget. Its thinking, obviously, is that the vote is an indication of the Federal Government’s plan to continue hostilities in the region, instead of embracing peace. This may not necessarily be so. I do not really think that we can discountenance the wisdom in sustaining peace by being prepared to fight.

I believe it is the same thinking that informs the building of high walls and the employment of armed security guards to guard our homes, even when we do not pray to be visited by any security challenges. Even the huge sums voted for fighting militancy in South-South and North-East should tell us that Nigeria cannot afford to commit scarce resources to fighting  endless hostilities at a time that all focus should be on building the country and restoring it to prosperity.

However,  the demand of the militants for the restoration of the Maritime University is one that is well within the purview of the government and should not be denied them.

This is a new year. A make or break year in which the government will either get its footing right and bring the country back from recession into prosperity, or fall by the wayside as one that could not fulfill its campaign promises.

The success of the 2017 Budget, which is the government’s blueprint for reviving the economy and bringing Nigeria’s economy back from the brink, is largely hinged on revenue from crude oil, no matter what we have been told to the contrary. Even if oil is to be produced from the North and we build pipelines from here to Niger Republic, as the government has said, Nigeria will still need the oil and the cooperation of our brothers and sisters from the Niger Delta to remain one big united country.   

Nigeria can, therefore, not be better off discountenancing any of its regions, whether it is the South-East, South-South or North-East. The people did not put any government in place to superintend over the casting aside of any part of the country.

The responsibility of the government is to continue to foster peace and unity in the country in the best interest of the entire country. Recent reports are pointing at improvements in the nation’s financial outlook. The Foreign Reserve has reportedly inched past 27 billion dollars and relevant global financial institutions are forecasting economic growth. The government must do whatever is necessary to sustain growth even as it works harder at easing the bite of this recession on the people. The task of rebuilding Nigeria’s economy is one in which all its constituent regions must play a role.