Abdulfattah Olajide
8 July 2008
Abuja — An international cartel of crude oil smugglers is sponsoring militant activities in the Niger Delta, President Umaru Musa Yar'adua said yesterday in Japan and called for an international clampdown on oil bunkerers.
Speaking at separate meetings with the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Yasuo Fukuda and the President of the World Bank, Mr. Robert B. Zoellick on the margins of the Summit of the Group of Eight Industrialized Nations (G-8), Yar'adua said "the other aspect of the Niger Delta challenge is the criminal aspect, those who use the cover of militancy to steal our crude oil and engage in all forms of violence. We know how arms are brought in to support this criminality but we will tackle the menace together with the challenge of development."
He said the government would soon present a proposal to the United Nations for the international community to urgently clampdown on the illicit trade in stolen crude oil. The president urged that stolen crude oil ought to be treated globally in the same manner as stolen diamonds.
"I appeal to you and through you to all other G8 leaders to support my new proposal which I will also discuss with UN Secretary General at my meeting with him, that stolen crude should be treated like stolen diamonds because they
both generate blood money. Like what is now known as "blood diamond", stolen crude also aids corruption and violence and can provoke war," he said.
He said his administration was taking steps to dislodge the Niger Delta militants with a view to holistically addressing the developmental challenges of the region.
Reiterating that his administration considers peace and security as a precondition for development, the president said the planned Niger Delta summit would provide "a platform where we will all agree on a programme of action" to redress the underdevelopment of the region.
"I believe we are on the verge of finding a permanent solution to the problem that has festered for decades. Right now, we are almost set for the Summit of Stakeholders that will form the bedrock of a permanent solution to the problem of political agitation. In the last one year, we have been having series of discussions with the stakeholders so that the summit will provide the platform where we will all agree on a programme of action for development and that agreement would be binding on all the actors," Yar'adua said.
The President also said that he would soon establish an Infrastructure Concessioning Commission to encourage private investment in the development of roads, railways, power plants and other critical infrastructure in all parts of Nigeria.
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