Kidnappers Now to Face Death Sentence
•Rivers House of Assembly debates bill
From Patrick Ugeh in Abuja, 02.10.2009
Rivers State Gvernor Rotimi Amaechi has announced a number of measures to make the Niger Delta safer for operators in the oil and gas industry and others within the region.
Amaechi, who attributed the upsurge of hostage-taking in the state to the withdrawal of the military and police from checkpoints, revealed that the crime would soon be made a capital offence and punishable by death.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja during a courtesy call on the Group Managing Director (GMD) of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, the governor said: “We are going to pass a bill into law against kidnapping. It is going to be a capital offence.”
The current punishment for kidnipping and false imprisonment under the criminal code is two to 10 years imprisonment.
He, however, stated that taking the operational headquarters and key infrastructural facilities in the industry away from the Niger Delta to safer parts of the country had the potential of worsening the situation, as there would be more unemployment and therefore more restiveness.
Noting that the state government did not judge the drop in kidnap cases towards the end of last year correctly, having taken it to mean that the crime had ended, he said that was what informed the withdrawal of security men from the streets.
According to him, road blocks were removed because they were causing traffic jam besides not being relevant in a civil society.
“The criminals exploited the situation and struck ceaselessly,” he said. “But we have learnt our lessons and we are back on the streets. We are doing a lot of roads. In the past, there used to be traffic jam. If it were then, the kidnappers will be stuck in traffic.”
The governor, who stated that curtailing the activities of abductors and other criminals would not be negotiable, appealed to oil companies considering relocating to other parts of the country to have a rethink.
He said relocating to other parts of the country could create a situation where facilities built outside the region would be starved of necessary fuels.
“We should not allow the oil industry economy to move out of the Niger Delta,” he pleaded. “It will intensify the problems. If you want to build an NLNG plant in Lagos and you want to take the gas from Niger Delta, you could have an empty NLNG plant without the gas getting there.”
According to him, “If the economy is located there, you can pipe gas to anywhere you want to.”
Describing the Niger Delta struggle as an issue concerning poverty and unemployment, he said: “You must encourage the oil companies to come back to Niger Delta. That will create employment opportunities, grow the economy and allow businesses to take place and eradicate the criminality that is going on.”
Amaechi called for the inclusion of provisions which will ensure the participation of many Niger Delta indigenes in the ongoing reform in the oil and gas industry.
According to him, the indigenes would be too busy to be involved in kidnapping if they were given contracts by the oil and gas companies.
Amaechi added: "If I am working in Shell, I will have no business kidnapping a white man. I’m not saying that all Niger Delta people must work in Shell, but I’m saying that anybody that is gainfully employed, whether in Shell or other companies, will not get up in the morning to kidnap anyone, the thought will not even cross his mind. It is hunger that leads to all that. This oil whether found in the Niger Delta or somewhere else is for all Nigerians. All we are saying is give us our fair chance."
Responding to a question on the security situation in Port Harcourt, Amaechi reminded Nigerians that it was very bad before he became governor.
"Before we came, they (militants) used to shoot on the streets of Port Harcourt, there was curfew in Port Harcourt, people used to raise their hands to walk the streets of Port Harcourt, there were no nightclubs and nightlife was completely dead. They had shut down the entire city. Hotel occupancy rate was like 20 to 25 per cent, while now they are reporting 60 to 70 per cent.
Barkindo, in his response, told his guest that the oil and gas industry could not employ many people because of its capital intensive nature.
He said the rate of unemployment had risen in Nigeria because schools were producing more graduates than the economy could absorb, adding that unemployment would remain a problem for the oil and gas industry and the society at large until the economy grows sufficiently.
