NIGERIA: Stalled development projects in oil rich Niger Delta resume after government amnesty to militants

Record ID: 234738

  • Title: NIGERIA: Stalled development projects in oil rich Niger Delta resume after government amnesty to militants
  • Date: 23rd June 2010
  • Summary: PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BULLDOZER CLEARING SPACE FOR NEW HIGH WAY VARIOUS OF NEW GAS POWERED ELECTRICITY PLANT COMMISSIONER FOR POWER RIVERS STATE AND COLLEAGUES AT THE POWER PLANT (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUGUSTINE WOKOCHA, COMMISSIONER FOR POWER, RIVERS STATE, SAYING: "When this government came in and took the priority steps they took to arrest this crisis situation and bring back peace to the community, those who were involved in the project, their confidence was regained and they came back and completed the project, so it took us from 2006 till now to do it." VARIOUS PARTS OF THE GAS POWERED ELECTRICITY PLANT (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUGUSTINE WOKOCHA, COMMISSIONER FOR POWER, RIVERS STATE, SAYING: "If we do not get power right, Nigeria will never get beyond the point it is now. Everything that is made in the world today is made to depend on power, the era of human energy has been reduced to intellectual energy, the work is now done by electricity, and until as a nation we arrest the issue of power, we will remain the underdeveloped and underindustrialised and impoverished country that we are." VARIOUS OF POWER PLANT HIG VOLTAGE POWER TRANSFORMERS HIGH VOLTAGE POWER TRANSMISSION CABLES VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC IN PORT HARCOURT
  • Embargoed: 8th July 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Industry,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEWO1218R54QMUEAZLGEKGKB03
  • Story Text: Several projects in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta, which were halted due to insecurity, have made significant progress since the government gave amnesty to militants.
    Decades of lucrative oil exploitation in the Delta was expected to bring prosperity to the region, but the area is instead struggling with environmental degradation and poverty.
    Disparities in the government's oil revenues measured against living standards in the region, led to a bitter armed rebellion pitting the authorities against militant youth.
    Both government and international oil-company projects such as roads, bridges, pipelines and power plants came under attack.
    Hundreds of local and foreign oil workers were kidnapped or attacked by armed groups before the government initiated amnesty in 2009.
    "When this government came in and took the priority steps they took to arrest the crisis situation and bring back peace to the community, those who were involved in the project their confidence was regained and they came back and completed the project, so it took us from 2006 till now to do it," said Austine Wokocha, the Commissioner for Power in Rivers State.
    Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, is where the highest number of foreign oil-workers were kidnapped for ransom. It's now enjoying relative peace.
    Several infrastructure projects such as power plants, schools and roads have been either revived or completed.
    Rivers State aims to become self-sufficient in energy after a third power plant is constructed on the outskirts of the city by the end of 2010.
    "If we do not get power right, Nigeria will never get beyond the point it is now, everything that is made in the world today is made to depend on power, the era of human energy has been reduced to intellectual energy, the work is now done by electricity and until as a nation we arrest the issue of power, we will remain the underdeveloped and under-industrialised and impoverished country that we are," Wokocha continued.
    But the danger is that most of the Niger Delta, however, still remains under-developed. In some areas, unemployment levels are at about 50 percent.
    Ateke Tom, a prominent ex-gang leader in the oil-producing Rivers State, told Reuters that life for his "boys" had yet to improve, eight months after agreeing to surrender arms and participate in the government's amnesty programme.
    Tom and hundreds of his fighters emerged from their hideouts in the mangroves of the Niger Delta to great fanfare last October, surrendering their rocket launchers, machine guns and grenades for the promise of stipends, training and employment.
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