Group decries spate of crimes in Niger Delta

An advocacy group, Association for Non-Violence in Niger Delta Region, has decried the spate of criminal activities in the Niger Delta.

The group, which said it was alarmed by the high rate of kidnappings, sea piracy, oil theft, cultism and killings among others, asked the relevant authorities to deploy more effective strategies to tackle criminalities in the region.

President of the group, Mr. Kennedy Tonjo-West expressed the fear in an interview on Monday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.

He particularly appealed to state governors in the region to rise to the occasion to tackle acts of insecurity bedevilling the region.

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He mentioned unemployment as one of the major factors responsible for criminalities in the region, suggesting that the governors should take the issue of youth empowerment very seriously.

On pipeline surveillance by the management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, West appealed to the management not to militarise the region by using soldiers to scare the villagers, but instead engage the jobless youths to guard the pipeline.

He, therefore, called on NNPC to award pipeline surveillance contracts to ex-militants, who according to him understood the region’s terrains better than soldiers.

He also condemned the planned deployment of drones by the NNPC to monitor the pipelines in the coastal region.
West stated, “Contracting pipeline surveillance to youths of the region will go a long way to reducing the hostilities in the region and acts of abduction of oil workers and other persons.

“Militarisation of the region by soldiers would not help matters. This is because the military cannot be insulated from aiding and abetting crude oil theft in the region.”

West lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for paying the monthly stipends of ex-Niger Delta agitators for the months of May and July as well as appointing Maj.-Gen Paul Boroh as Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

West, who also doubles as the leader, Non-Violence Youths Assembly for Niger Delta Region, however, called on the Federal Government to release funds for the tuition of trainees abroad on scholarship under the PAP in order to aid their studies.

He said the non-release of tuition, in-training allowances, accommodation fees and other allowances had put the students in a fix as they were being threatened by the various institutions abroad.