Several years since the Amnesty Programme unveiled by President Umaru Yar'adua administration brought relative peace to the Niger Delta region, restiveness and destructive militancy have returned through the activities of a new group that calls itself Niger Delta Avengers.
In recent times the group has blown up vital oil and gas installations, leading to sharp drops in both crude oil export and gas supply to power stations. Its activities have reduced Nigeria's oil production to 1.6 million barrels per day from 2.2 million barrels. Reduced gas supply to the thermal stations has also caused blackouts all across the country.
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