President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, May 20, 2016, pleaded with the Niger Delta militants to lay down their arms and partner with his government for the progress of Nigeria.
Besides making progress, Buhari also said laying their arms will avail his administration opportunity to review the amnesty programme initiated by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and sustained by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
According to a Vanguard report, President Buhari gave assurance to all companies in the region of the federal government commitment to protect assets in the region from pipeline vandals and oil bunkers.
Buhari was speaking in a meeting with the global director of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, Andrew Brown in Abuja where he told the delegation that the chief of naval staff has been directed to organize the Joint Military Task Force and keep the vandals at bay.
PMB today met with a @Shell delegation led by the Global Director (Upstream), Mr. Andrew Brown, at the State House pic.twitter.com/6X8rUnkVyF
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) May 20, 2016
He said the JTF were being supported by the United States and European government in the area of training and intelligence gathering.
Buhari, who acknowledged that the activities of the militants were threatening the economy of the nation, assured that the government and the military were putting everything in place to ensure the safety of all assets in the Niger Delta region.
While commending the oil firm for continuing operation in the midst of the Niger Delta Avengers, Buhari urged the oil firm to end gas flaring and produce more gas for electricity to support job creation and manufacturing.
