Special Adviser to the president on Niger Delta, Kingsley Kuku, has predicted a resurgence of violence in the Niger Delta region, if President Goodluck Jonathan is not re-elected in 2015.
At a parley in Washington on Thursday with US State Department led by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (Bureau of African Affairs), Donald Teitelbaumin, the Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, urged the American government to back his boss’s second term ambition.
Kuku noted that the relative peace being enjoyed in the oil-producing region was because Jonathan was committed to success of the initiative.
“It is true that the presidential amnesty programme has engendered peace, safety and security in the sensitive and strategic Niger Delta. Permit me to add that the peace that currently prevails in the zone is largely because Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who is from that same place, is the President of Nigeria. That is the truth.”
“It is only a Jonathan presidency that can guarantee continued peace and energy security in the Niger Delta,” Mr. Kuku said.
He warned the US against giving total focus on the Northern violence at the detriment of the South-south region.
“Terrorism is a global phenomenon. President Jonathan inherited the situation in northern Nigeria and he has adopted a multifaceted approach to tackle this unfortunate situation. So far, profound results are being achieved. But I insist that this must not distract the U.S. and the international community from giving the Niger Delta region of Nigeria the requisite attention.”
“I hope the U.S. is aware that with peace and stability in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s economy will remain buoyant enough to empower the Federal Government to contend with terrorism and other forms of insecurity in other parts of the country.
“However if we allow anything to hurt the peace in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s economy will be endangered and energy security in Nigeria and even America will not be guaranteed. The attention and interest of the US in Nigeria must remain the stability of the Niger Delta and the easiest way to ensure this is to encourage President Jonathan to complete an eight-year term,” he said.
“In spite of the peace that prevails in the Niger Delta now, the issues that led to militancy in the first place are yet to be properly addressed. The issues of development, greater say in the control of the resource that comes from the place, issues of environmental remediation, youth unemployment among others are still there,” he said.
“However, the agitators are prepared to patiently await development as long as one of their own, Dr. Jonathan remains the President, and I think this is one thing the American government should reflect seriously on.”
In his remark, Mr. Teitelbaum said the US was worried about the restiveness by Islamic groups in northern Nigeria, assuring that his country would not abandon the peace process in the Niger Delta.
He described the Niger Delta amnesty programme as a huge success, and pledged continued assistance in other areas including technical support.
Kuku who held another session with members of the Corporate Council on Africa ,CCA,in Washington DC on Thursday, invited business leaders to explore the opportunities of investing in the Niger Delta region.
According to him, following the acceptance of amnesty by hitherto violent groups, Nigeria’s economy surged as crude oil production which had declined to 700,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of 2009, currently stands about 2.6 million barrels per day.
“We were given the mandate to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate these ex-agitators. We are doing just that and peace has returned to the Niger Delta as several of the ex-agitators are now very busy in schools and vocational centres across the world. But what becomes of them after their training is our biggest challenge now. On our part, we have done our best but we now need the practical support of all persons and nations who truly seek and want peace in the Niger Delta, to join efforts to create employment opportunities for our youths,” he said.
The CCA President and Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Hayes, said the Council was irrevocably committed to attracting American investors to Africa
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