Seriously.

Seriously.

“Mr Brown has offered Britain’s help in cracking down on an insurrection in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, where theft and sabotage has shut in about a quarter of Africa’s leading oil producer’s output and contributed to soaring world energy prices.

“These are criminal acts… What we’re looking at is how we can help ensure there is law and order in what is a very dangerous area,” Mr Brown said, in comments ahead of the visit construed in parts of the British and Nigerian media as a precursor to British military assistance.

His offer has received a mixed response in Nigeria. One Nigerian official said that while support from Britain in patrolling international waters offshore could be helpful, any suggestion of British military assistance inside Nigeria would be counter-productive.

Powerful figures in the government and military who are involved in the oil theft could undermine any foreign-backed counter-insurgency strategy by painting it as a threat to Nigerian sovereignty.

Some Nigerian officials and politicians believe that Britain could be of most help if it threw its diplomatic weight behind efforts to curtail the international trade in stolen Nigerian oil.”

“Mr Yar’Adua echoed some of the Cole proposals at the G8 summit in Japan last week, when he called for a tracking system for crude oil similar to the Kimberley process set up to curb the trade in diamonds from African war zones.”

“Members of the Arewa consultative forum, a gathering of northern leaders, have called for tough action to crush the militants.”

————–

So Gordon Brown proposes to help clamping down on oil theft in a military way. Some Nigerian officials are more interested in making stolen oil harder to sell. And of course, Arewa demands killings.

We need to find something about who buys the stolen oil. I mean it’s not like that filipino ship was about to behave like old times trader caravans and show up in London saying “we have some crude oil to sell”. So either it’s sold through proxies again and again or like the old guardian article suggests it’s sold in less develloped and less secure places where a ship can show up and say “i have a 100 tons of crude oil to sell”.

This is fascinating.

“Mr Brown has offered Britain’s help in cracking down on an insurrection in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, where theft and sabotage has shut in about a quarter of Africa’s leading oil producer’s output and contributed to soaring world energy prices.

“These are criminal acts… What we’re looking at is how we can help ensure there is law and order in what is a very dangerous area,” Mr Brown said, in comments ahead of the visit construed in parts of the British and Nigerian media as a precursor to British military assistance.

His offer has received a mixed response in Nigeria. One Nigerian official said that while support from Britain in patrolling international waters offshore could be helpful, any suggestion of British military assistance inside Nigeria would be counter-productive.

Powerful figures in the government and military who are involved in the oil theft could undermine any foreign-backed counter-insurgency strategy by painting it as a threat to Nigerian sovereignty.

Some Nigerian officials and politicians believe that Britain could be of most help if it threw its diplomatic weight behind efforts to curtail the international trade in stolen Nigerian oil.”

“Mr Yar’Adua echoed some of the Cole proposals at the G8 summit in Japan last week, when he called for a tracking system for crude oil similar to the Kimberley process set up to curb the trade in diamonds from African war zones.”

“Members of the Arewa consultative forum, a gathering of northern leaders, have called for tough action to crush the militants.”

————–

So Gordon Brown proposes to help clamping down on oil theft in a military way. Some Nigerian officials are more interested in making stolen oil harder to sell. And of course, Arewa demands killings.

We need to find something about who buys the stolen oil. I mean it’s not like that filipino ship was about to behave like old times trader caravans and show up in London saying “we have some crude oil to sell”. So either it’s sold through proxies again and again or like the old guardian article suggests it’s sold in less develloped and less secure places where a ship can show up and say “i have a 100 tons of crude oil to sell”.

This is fascinating.

It seems like everyone agree that the “militants” are used by local politicians. What I would like to know is who pays who. I heard people argue that the politicians pay and arm militants to attack their enemies or blackmail oil companies but I also heard people argue that politicians use militants to raise money for their campaign through the criminal activities. And I heard that they do both.

It’s really weird and sad because for all the talk about criminality and how much Nigeria is hurt, it’s quite clear to me that the Nigerian state and to an extend all Nigerians did wrong the inhabitants of the Delta. But I see no sense of guilt or wrongness in most conversations. And now it’s blowing up.

It seems like everyone agree that the “militants” are used by local politicians. What I would like to know is who pays who. I heard people argue that the politicians pay and arm militants to attack their enemies or blackmail oil companies but I also heard people argue that politicians use militants to raise money for their campaign through the criminal activities. And I heard that they do both.

It’s really weird and sad because for all the talk about criminality and how much Nigeria is hurt, it’s quite clear to me that the Nigerian state and to an extend all Nigerians did wrong the inhabitants of the Delta. But I see no sense of guilt or wrongness in most conversations. And now it’s blowing up.

Ok, I understand that you have written only about one area of the problems…. Yea, they are intertwined in really nuanced ways…. I am actually looking forward to reading a detailed study on the Niger-Delta.

Ok, I understand that you have written only about one area of the problems…. Yea, they are intertwined in really nuanced ways…. I am actually looking forward to reading a detailed study on the Niger-Delta.

Of course, I understand that “criminal” works too even if it’s confusing. And I think they’re trying very hard to mantain the confusion. Like in this sentence:

“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,”

But yeah, at the end of the day, there are two problems in the Niger Delta: a crime problem and an active armed rebellion. The two are probably interwined to an extend (but didn’t MEND arrest some militants accused of rackeeting fishermen) but both issues have their own set of solutions. Assimilating the whole mess to a criminal issue is denying that there are political solutions too.

Of course, I understand that “criminal” works too even if it’s confusing. And I think they’re trying very hard to mantain the confusion. Like in this sentence:

“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,”

But yeah, at the end of the day, there are two problems in the Niger Delta: a crime problem and an active armed rebellion. The two are probably interwined to an extend (but didn’t MEND arrest some militants accused of rackeeting fishermen) but both issues have their own set of solutions. Assimilating the whole mess to a criminal issue is denying that there are political solutions too.