Nigeria Content Online

Wearing sunglasses,
a gold necklace, and sitting outside his home in a village in the Niger
Delta, ex-militant leader, Ateke Tom, is happy for the army to take
over what were once training camps for his fighters.

Along with other
former gang leaders who accepted a government amnesty last year, Tom
now finds himself working with the security forces he long fought in
Nigeria’s southern oil region, trying to persuade those still carrying
arms to surrender.

“They are
criminals, and I heard that those boys that were disturbing (things) in
Rivers State have been arrested,” Tom said, referring to a gang leader
who had been holding 19 hostages until they were freed by the army last
month.

“I thank God they have been arrested. They were just criminals, nothing more,” he said.

Tom was a field
commander for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND), the main militant group responsible for years of deadly
attacks, which at their peak, shut down more than a quarter of
Nigeria’s oil output.

Oil production has
partially recovered, as infrastructure remains damaged and Nigeria is
now pumping more than 2 million barrels per day compared with lows of
1.5 million in early 2006 when MEND burst onto the scene. Crude output
is still well below the 2.4 million bpd averaged in 2005.

Along with fellow
MEND commanders, Farah Dagogo and Boyloaf, who helped the armed forces
secured the release of the 19 hostages last month, he accepted an
amnesty brokered last year partly by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Security experts
working to protect Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry say the
involvement of former rebel leaders in the military efforts to flush
out remaining armed gangs in the creeks of the delta could be a turning
point.

But they also
caution it is virtually impossible to secure hundreds of kilometres of
exposed pipeline which criss-cross remote communities in the vast
wetlands region, meaning supply disruptions are likely to persist.

Much is at stake

Jonathan is the
first head of state from the Niger Delta and resurgent unrest risks
undermine his credibility ahead of elections next April. His
administration is keen to show it has the security situation under
control.

But disputes
between international oil companies and local youth demanding security
contracts, jobs, or simply trying to siphon off stolen oil, are common
and it takes little more than home-made explosives to rupture a
pipeline.

The Niger Delta
Liberation Force (NDLF), a newly emerging faction run by gang leader,
John Togo, said on Monday it had sabotaged a pipeline belonging to
state oil firm, NNPC, although there was no independent confirmation.

Royal Dutch Shell
declared force majeure last month on its Bonny Light oil exports –
freeing it from contractual deliveries due to actions beyond its
control – after a pipeline was damaged by oil theft.

The amnesty had
brought more than a year of relative peace, until the recent spate of
kidnappings, but critics question whether it is sustainable, saying
those who surrendered weapons are only happy while they are being paid.