BREAKING NEWS, Security
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PAUL Arkwright, British High Commissioner to Nigeria, has cautioned the federal government over military option as a measure to tackle the resurgence of militancy and other criminality in the oil–rich Niger Delta region. The British High Commissioner who stated this in Ogun State, said though, there is the need to protect the investments, not just the British companies and international companies operating there, but also Nigerian companies from acts of criminality going-on in the region, the military should tread softly.
He noted that the Britain is already talking to Nigerian government and its authorities on need to take a comprehensive approach and not to rely solely on military option as solution to the Niger Delta militants. According to him, it is important that the Nigerian government explore ways to engage the communities in the area, understand the grievances of the people and also ensured that the environmental damage is cleaned up.
The High Commissioner also suggested that same option should be applied to conclude the fight against Boko Haram terrorists in the North East of the country as being canvassed ever since by Britain. “We need to protect the investment there, not just British companies, international companies but Nigerian companies as well.
“We are talking to Nigerian authorities about that, we need to have what we called a comprehensive approach to this, in other words we need to have dialogue and we need to engage the communities down there. We need to understand the grievances of the people down there, we need to ensure the environmental damage is cleaned up. When there is criminal activity, it is right that the government should take proactive action against that criminal activity, we strongly support them but we don’t think military solution alone is the final solution to handle issues in Niger Delta.” – Vanguard
— Jun 3, 2016 @ 18:35 GMT
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