How I convinced militants to surrender arms—Gov Sylva
They wouldn’t have taken you into confidence that easily, because earlier this year you told the JTF to go into the creeks and get at the militants? At that time what I meant was very clear. Some people in high quarters were accusing us of aiding and abetting militants and I said it publicly that […]
They wouldn’t have taken you into confidence that easily, because earlier this year you told the JTF to go into the creeks and get at the militants?
At that time what I meant was very clear. Some people in high quarters were accusing us of aiding and abetting militants and I said it publicly that everyone knows where the militants are. So if you know where they are and you say they are criminals, then go ahead and arrest them. Why haven’t you arrested them? I have not stopped you from arresting them. I did not stop anybody from arresting them. But, of course, you know that it was not easy for them to be arrested. If not, I am sure the law enforcement agencies would have arrested them. So, what I said then was to dare them to go ahead and arrest them. If that was going to bring peace, then no problem.
But in your heart did you think that approach was going to bring peace?
If they felt that law enforcement alone could have solved this problem, I was giving them a chance to try. I think they realised that also was not going to solve the problem so they did not do it.
There is a political angle to this whole issue. There are insinuations from some quarters that the Special Adviser to the President on the Niger Delta affairs is trying to come into Gloryland Castle 2012; and he has been trying to claim credit for all that you have been doing to rein the boys in. Would you like to clarify this issue?
I don’t know where that story came from. I am definitely not aware that he is trying to come into Gloryland Castle. I am not aware of any ambition of his. Of course, in a democracy he is free to nurse any ambition of his. Nobody is going to take that right of his away from him. I assume he would not attempt to politicise a serious matter. I would like to assume it is not true.
One of the ex-militant leaders did point out that their problem is partly that of unemployment. How would your government tackle that?
Definitely that is a major challenge. We are trying to develop the agricultural sector as a sector that can provide very quick results and very quick jobs for a lot of our people. We are hoping that through agriculture we will be able to soon generate 5,000 jobs and that is going to mop up a lot of people. Now that peace has come to Bayelsa state, activities in the oil sector will also move up.
Militancy was one of the things that stopped a lot of investors from coming. Without militancy investors will come and we will have a lot of opportunities. He (the ex-militant leader) himself is actually answering the question by disarming along with his boys.
What are the specific demands of the militants?
They said they want jobs to be given to them. They want opportunities to be given to them. They want development in the area . That is we have been trying to do. Unfortunately that has also been impeded by their activities. Now that this has been removed I believe we can move faster. We believe also that development from other partners- the federal government, oil companies and others would move faster. Together we will work and take Bayelsa to the next level.
There is the suspicion belief that Boyloaf and others were induced to surrender.
Did you see Boyloaf there as somebody that could have been induced? These boys have very strong views. If they were induced you can see their speeches were even directed at me. So you could have seen that it was not stage managed. If I staged managed it they would not have been talking about me. At some point I was seating at the edge of my chair. They could have said anything about me there.
They are not people you can buy on the roads. Somebody takes up arms against his country and lives in the creek for years and years for something he believes. You think such a person can be enticed with peanuts? They have been accused of stealing crude oil. If they really wanted to make money, they would have gone to steal our crude oil and sell. How much can I give him? It is unfortunate.When people start to reduce serious issues to this level of pettiness, then I get very very worried about the future of this country.
There are speculations that you are only trying to use the boys to secure your second term in office?
I have options. As a governor I do not need to be anything else. I just need to be a governor and I can win. If there is a pretender to the governorship he has a lot more work to do. Today I don’t have that much work to do. I am here already. I know exactly how to be here. So I don’t need this kind of thing. But the important thing is there is something that is attacking my economy. I have the potentials of producing over 500,000 barrels of oil per day from here. My 13% derivation is calculated from how much oil I produce.
For now, from over 400,000 barrels per day potential, Shell has moved down to about 42,000 barrels per day because of the activities of the militants. What do you expect me to face.? If I solve this problem I can almost triple my income instantaneously to at least $15 billion per month. If you were governor what would you be doing? This is the job I have been voted to do because I know that if we improve the earnings we would be able to do more for our people. That is exactly what I am doing. If somebody else is looking at it from the political point of view I wish him luck. For me the people matters most. Development can only be possible if you have access to funds. This is funding that is there that I can access if I can stop this. I went for it. Whatever political colorations they are going to add to it, I wish them luck.
The arms surrendered today are part of the problems in the Niger Delta…
Not in the Niger Delta. The minister of petroleum resources himself confess that we are losing about one million barrels of crude oil per day. If this is sold at $50 per barrel that amounts to $50 million per day. In ten days you are losing $500,000 million.In a month you are losing $1.5 billion. As a country are you saying this is a Niger Delta problem? Any other country would go to war for this kind of money if you are losing it every month. And then you will like to say it is a Niger problem? It is unfair. This is a national problem before it is a Niger Delta one.
Now that these arms have come out, do you see the violence stopping?
This is not the final thing. The boys said so. I believe that this is the beginning of progress. If we do the things that we need to do to develop the area, provide jobs and opportunities then I believe this is a very good start. We should be able to take advantage of it.
Some of these arms became available as a result of inter-communal clashes…
This is the problem sometimes. While I was seating at the disarmament venue one thing that keep coming to my mind was how did these arms come into Nigeria not to the communities. Don’t reduce it to that level. Take it as a Nigerian problem. The communities have no role to play in securing our borders. The communities have no role to play in arms control.
Now that peace is gradually returning to Bayelsa, what are you going to do with your annual earning of N100,000 billion?
We are looking at massive agricultural development. We have a lot of potential in aquaculture. We also have potential in rice production and oil palm production. These are going to create jobs and touch the lives of the people. I have made some foreign trips and we are expecting something positive will come out.