…….NNPC condemn rising militancy despite huge investments in the N/Delta
Chbibisi Ohakah, Abuja with agency reports
Gunmen suspected to be Niger Delta militants reportedly killed four oil workers who were involved in pipeline maintenance owned by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company in Okoroma and Ogbokiri-Akassa communities of Nembe and Brass local government areas of Bayelsa. At the time of filing this report, no group has claimed responsibility.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Yenegoa who confirmed the incident to newsmen said those killed were two workers, a driver and a security operative.
“During a routine work some gunmen yesterday attacked some contract workers doing some repair works at the Nembe axis of Obama flow station killing two contract workers, and a driver.”
The death of four oil workers in the hand of militants comes on the heels of the assertion last weekend by the managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, that the situation in the Niger Delta of Nigeria does not reflect the heavy investments in the region by the Nigerian government.
The NNPC boss who spoke while receiving a delegation of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) at the NNPC headquarters in Abuja, said despite the heavy investments in infrastructure development and human capital development, Nigeria is still witnessing rising cases of militancy and pipeline vandalism.
The attack yesterday on Sunday is the second attack on Agip oil facilities in the region in a week. Last Tuesday, a new militant group known as Bayan-Men owned up in a statement to an explosion at the Onosi-Ogu Manifold in Omoku, near Port Harcourt, by Agip Oil.
While threatening to sustain the attacks, Bayen-Men said the explosion at the manifold was to express their disenchantment with Agip’s poor handling of agreements with host communities.
The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps who confirmed the death of the oil workers, said the suspected militants ambushed their unsuspecting victims. “During a routine work, some gunmen yesterday attacked some contract workers doing some repair works at the Nembe axis of Obama flow station killing two contract workers, and a driver,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Ogbere, the NSDC spokesman yesterday.
NSDC confirmed that one of their men was killed, while two others who sustained injuries are receiving treatment. “One personnel was killed while the other two that were missing have been found and are responding to treatment,” the spokesman said.
The Nembe community is presently the source of Nigeria’s recent oil spill, which happened on November 5th, as the federal government directed AITEO Eastern Exploration and Production Company Ltd (AEEPCo), to cease operations in the Nembe oil spill area of Bayelsa State until a proper investigation is carried out.
Last week, the Danish military reported that a frigate ship killed four pirates on Southern Nigerian waters, off the Gulf of Guinea. It is not clear if the killing in Nembe and Brass is a reprisal attack.
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