Mike Oduniyi, Josephine Lohor and Segun James
2 March 2006
Lagos/Abuja/Warri — Six of the nine foreign oil workers held hostage nearly two weeks ago by militant Ijaw youths, were yesterday released with a warning that unless the Federal Gover-nment met their dem-ands they (militants) would wreck more havoc on oil installations in the Niger Delta.
The hostages who regained their freedom at Okerenkoko are Somsak Muaguho and Arak Suwanna (Thailand), Shadly Ali and Saysal Mohammed (Egyptian), Ma-lcon Hawkins (American) and Anthony Santos (Phi-lipino).
Their release, which the militants massed in the Movement for the Eman-cipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said was on health ground, came just as the Federal Government stated that electricity generation in the country had been cut short by 1,000 mega watts (MW) following the resurgent crisis in the Niger Delta region.
However, MEND in an e-mail sent to THISDAY yesterday, threatened to increase the scale of attacks on oil companies and facilities from Sunday, and restated its warning that oil companies must vacate the region or be ready to bear the consequences of staying on in the restive oil-bearing communities.
The group said in the statement that it had released Hawkins, who is diabetic, and five others to demonstrate its "honour for humanity."
"We had paid honour of the release of one American, who is aged and feeble and a diabetic patient alongside a couple of Egyptians, who were exposed to the tropical temperament of trauma that the Niger Delta child had been forced to live for over 50 years," the group said.
The American oil worker who looked weary was handed over to officials of American Embassy and the Delta State Government led by Commissioner for Conflict Resolution, Mr. Macaus Ovuzourie at Miller waterside and he was immediately taken to the Governor's Lodge in Warri.
Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, later told THISDAY that the man was in contact with his family and could not speak to anyone yet.
Hawkins who wore a white shirt with grey stripe over a brown-coloured trouser, looked very frail as he was being assisted into an American Embassy vehicle, which took him to the Governor's Lodge.
The nine hostages, who are staff of US oil service firm, Willbros Group, were kidnapped by members of MEND penultimate Saturday, allegedly as a reaction to the air bombardment the Okerenkoko community suffered on February 15 and 17.
Delta State Governor, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, who briefed the press on the hostage situation earlier on Tuesday in Warri, had pleaded with Nigerians to be patient as no deal of certainty had been secured with the militants, even though he expressed optimism that a breakthrough in the negotiation would soon be achieved.
The militants in the meantime attacked a ship with diesel yesterday at the Okerenkoko. The ship MT Africa Pride was heading for the NNPC jetty in Warri when militant attacked the tanker. The Captain on the ship was forced to part with $400,000, among other valuable items collected from the crew.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government yesterday said that the crisis in the Niger Delta, which has resulted in the loss of 458,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil production, has led to the loss of over 1,000 megawatts of power generation.
Rising from the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting that was presided over by President Olusegun Obasanjo, the government announced that power supply would continue to be erratic for the time being because engineers have been unable to gain access to the two gas pipelines that were blown up by militant youths in the Niger Delta.
While appealing for the understanding of Nigerians on this, Power and Steel Minister, Senator Liyel Imoke, added that electricity supply in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, would also be erratic for now because only one of the six power stations at the Lagos Egbin thermal station was functioning, adding that the president has directed the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to boost fuel oil supply to the PHCN to enable it improve power generation as the hydropower alternatives that are running at full capacity could not be sustained in this dry season.
Imoke said that "a lot of damage had occurred with the blowing up of two gas pipelines. The first one was the Alakiri Gas Pipeline which was blown up a few weeks earlier. Recently the Escravos Gas Pipeline was blown up and effectively we lost over 1000 megawatts generation. Currently, the situation is still the same. We are making some arrangement with Mr. President's approval for the NNPC to supply us with some stock of LPFO to allow us power two of the six units at the Egbin Power Station. If the LPFO is delivered we can run two units and add 400 megawatts to what we have. But the situation got so bad that out of the Egbin Power Station, we had only one unit running."
"Unfortunately until the gas infrastructure is repaired, because right now to the best of our knowledge, they haven't been able to access the site where the damage occurred. As a result of that, the problem will be with us for some time to come. It is not PHCN- related fault, but it is as a result of the damage to gas pipelines as a result of the recent unrest in the Niger Delta region," he said.
The Minister added that "we are making efforts to address the problem. We are running some of our hydro power stations at full capacity, but this also has some significant import for in the sense that hydro station deplete the water resources which is the fuel for power generation and when we deplete the water resources in the heat of the dry season, we will not be able to run those stations. So we have to shut them down.
"So, there is a significant impact and effect of this crisis in the Niger Delta on the sector. We will continue to appeal to our consumers to bear with us because through this process, we are making every effort to address this problem. Once we can get some stock of LPFO, we will increase the available generation, but we are not in a position to tell you when this problem will be resolved", he added.
Speaking on the shortage of power supply in Lagos, the Miniser said that "we also had cause to brief the council on the loss of the 150 MVA transformer in Lagos. When we lost this transformer, a lot of our consumers were affected. The 150 MVA transformer is a massive transformer that carries a significant amount of load to consumers. With the loss of that transformer, what we could pump into Lagos was reduced considerably.
"Right now, we are in the process of relocating a transformer from a new project in Calabar to Lagos to deal with that problem. The process will take about six weeks to deal with that problem. So Lagos in particular is going to be badly affected.
"These are some of the problems we face. It is not true that there is no available generation or that the PHCN has declined in its performance. These are extraneous circumstance to the PHCN particularly the crises in the Niger Delta.
"Available peak generation now as a result of these crises is between 2900 and 3000 megawatts, the average daily generation is in the region of 2500 to 2600 megawatts," he added.
While stating that seven power generation plants costing a total of N2.5 billion would be stimultanously constructed in the Niger Delta, he noted that an investment of $3.5 billion, particularly from the private sector, is expected to add 3,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid.
The Minister who confirmed that there are no immediate plans to impose higher electricity tariffs on consumers, said that the FEC has approved N8 billion for the dredging of the Lower River Niger from Warri, Delta state to Jamata in Kogi state, stretching over 572 kilometers.
The FEC also approved the purchase of tractors and agricultural equipment worth N3.6 billion for distribution at 25 per cent subsidy to 25 states of the federation through cooperatives and farmers' associations, just as it approved another N1.6 billion for erosion control and desertification measures in six states of Benue, Abia, Gombe, Lagos, Rivers and Akwa Ibom.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), on his part, said that the FEC ratified the agreement on judicial cooperation between Nigeria and Niger Republic and the mutual assistance between Nigeria and Brazil.
In a related development, the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Hon. Emmanuel Aguariavwodo, has pleaded with militants to release all hostages and dialogue with the government on ways to move the oil and gas rich region forward.
A statement made available to THISDAY yesterday said Aguariavwodo told a group of youths from Delta State who visited him in the commission headquarters in the Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt that it was only an unconditional release of the hostages that could guarantee the speedy development of the wealthy but poor region.
His words: "The point has been made that there is anger in the region and it is also a fact that the federal government is equally doing a lot to bridge the gap of poverty and underdevelopment.
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