British High Commissioner to Nigeria Paul Arkwright and the House of Representatives yesterday threw their weight behind the ongoing military action to secure the oil rich Niger Delta from the resurgence of militancy.
The Niger Delta Avengers have been attacking oil platforms and installations in the last few weeks, thereby reducing the revenue capacity of the country.
Troops have been deployed especially in Delta state where the attacks are more prevalent.
Yesterday in Abeokuta, Arkwright said there is the need to protect the investments in the region from acts of criminality going on in the region.
The High British High Commissioner spoke in an interview in the Ogun state capital, shortly after his visit to the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo.
Arkwright who arrived the Ake Palace at 11am, also advocated dialogue as part of a comprehensive approach that should be adopted by the government to address the situation, saying force alone may not bring about a lasting solution to the Niger Delta issue.
Spokesman of the House of Representatives Abdulrazak Namdas at his weekly briefing yesterday said the House is in support of the Presidency on the handling of the Niger Delta militancy.
He said the House would soon come up with a position having visited the region to assess the situation.
The Spokesman however said it had become necessary for the oil companies operating in the region to put in some measure of security for their equipment and installations.
According to him, the Nigerian military cannot be expected to be t deployed in all parts of the country at the same time, “By their training, the military is to protect the territorial integrity of the country, but we have them in almost all parts of the country to maintain and restore the peace.
“The Federal government is doing its best on how to solve all security challenges and we are comfortable with that” Namdas said.
The British High Commission’s political Counsellor,Ben Llewellyn-Jones and former Commonwealth Secretary-General Dr Emeka Anyaoku, were on the High Commissioner’s entourage.
The envoy said: “We are talking to Nigerian authorities about that, we need to have what we call a comprehensive approach to this, in other words we need to have dialogue and we need to engage the communities down there.
“We need to understand the grievances of the people down there, we need to ensure the environmental damage is cleaned up.
“We need to protect the investment there, not just British companies, international companies but Nigerian companies as well.
“When there is criminal activity, (it) is right that the government should take proactive action against that criminal activity, we strongly support them but we don’t think military solution alone is the final solution to handle issues in Niger Delta.
“And to handle Boko Haram in the North, so we need comprehensive approach and that is what we have been talking to the Nigerian government about.”
Thenation…..
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