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FG to tackle Niger-Delta Crisis in a new way

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By Okunloye Abiodun

The Niger-Delta crisis will be curbed by the end of 2023 first quarter - NSA.

Plans to end the crisis within the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria by the end of the first quarter of 2023 have been made public by the federal government. This was reported by Babagana Monguno, the National Security Adviser (NSA), at a press briefing at the State House recently. Monguno blamed the prevalent crisis in the region on residents’ lack of collaboration within the Niger Delta zone but said that the federal government was pursuing new avenues to address the issue.

The Ministry of the Niger Delta, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and a number of other organizations have combined their efforts, and they are currently working on something. They are trying to implement a strategy that has never been tried before. He added that he is not at liberty to tell, but Muguno, indicated that they are hopeful that before the end of the first quarter of the following year, there would be a big improvement.

Resolution of the security situation requires a combined effort.

According to the NSA, there are a number of elements at play in the security situation in the Niger Delta, and security authorities have been working in conjunction with international oil companies and other organizations like the Ministry of the Niger Delta, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and the Amnesty program to combat the threat. Since the local population has not shown the necessary resolve to assist the security authorities in resolving this issue, the focus has shifted to intelligence gathering while vandalism of pipelines and other infrastructure continues unabated.

As long as security agencies are prevented from obtaining information, and as long as oil companies continue to operate, there will surely be collaborators. However, the most effective approach to deal with this issue is to collaborate with security agencies, intelligence agencies, and also self-help in the idea that each local community requires the kind of action that blocks the urgency of these activities, he added. The NSA, addressing the widespread problem of oil theft, stated that the Gulf of Guinea is a treacherous sea path for merchant oil tankers as well as fishing vessels due to the risk of piracy.

Despite challenges, there has been a progress record.

On the threat of piracy, Monguno, has disclosed the fact that Nigeria’s maritime environment has received an unfavorable rating on a global scale as a direct result of the prevalence of instances of piracy. However, in response to all these maritime issues, the Nigerian Navy, in conjunction with some other maritime security agencies both locally and internationally, have been able to limit the extent of privacy in the region drastically. This has been accomplished both regionally and internationally.

All this is largely attributable to the support provided by the Falcon eye, which is an intelligence-driven maritime domain awareness facility. This facility has made it possible for a significant number of maritime criminals to be intercepted, which, in turn, has improved the safety of the waterways for commercial operations. The strategic assets were meant to provide complete coverage territory of entire Nigerian waters up to 200 nautical miles, as well as the joint development zones of Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, to improve overall maritime security.

This new initiative will monitor all coastal activities.

The Falcon Eye project, which was commissioned on July 13, 2021, and accomplished on June 13, 2022, is a comprehensive and detailed coastal monitoring system. It was founded out of the need to combat the number of challenges within the maritime sector, such as the abduction of oil workers, sea thefts, piracy, crude oil robbery, maritime terrorism, hostage taking, illegal bunker, acoustic and human smuggling, and many more perpetrated within the domain of Nigerian maritime.


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