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Unexplained flames and explosions in the Nigerian oil-rich Niger Delta oil and gas pipelines threaten the country’s oil production and are caught up in the national political conflict.
Last week, Africa’s largest oil producer reported at least three fires and explosions in its oil and gas pipeline, and last week President Volatinub imposes emergency rules on Delta River Province, citing political dysfunction and attacks on oil installation.
Tinubu has suspended governor Siminalayi Fubara, a member of the main opposition.
Although no perpetrators of the attacks have been identified, production of the Niger Delta has long been plagued by extremist attacks on pipelines and oil infrastructure.
Rivers also had a history of political violence. Authorities have been accused of deploying thugs to attack the pipeline and each other during the conflict.
Tinubu vowed to crack down on security and improve its security in 2023 to boost Nigeria’s oil production.
Output has steadily increased during his tenure, rising from a historic low of under 1 million under his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari to at least 1.4 million barrels a day this year. Tinubu says he wants to bolster this to 2 million barrels a day.
With oil and gas exports, which account for about half of Nigeria’s government budget and more than 80% of foreign exchange receipts, the duration of vandalism will wreak havoc on the government’s finances.
Tinubu said it linked pipeline vandalism to the ongoing political crisis of the river, indicating a “hitting incident of pipeline vandalism by some extremists without the governor taking any action to cut them down.” The suspended governor, Hubara, has denied any ties with extremist groups.
However, critics accused Tinubu of using the declaration of emergency as an excuse for politically motivated power that could spell trouble for Nigerian democracy by significantly expanding the power of the president.
Celestine Akpobari, a civil society activist on the river, called Tinubu’s actions “an assault on federalism and democracy.”
“We don’t use a sledge hammer to kill mosquitoes that perch in the scrotum,” Akpobari said. “That’s what happened here. It’s the executive recklessness.”
Notable Nigerians, including former President Goodluck Jonathan and Nobel Laure Soyinka, have denounced Tinubu’s emergency declaration. This is the third time Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, since an emergency was used to suspend elected parliaments in the state.
“We casually remove the entire state government and neglect the will of our voters,” said Nigerian journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Dele Orojede.
Last week, a segment of the Transniger pipeline, which is responsible for around 15% of the country’s exports, opened fire as smoke swirls from the facility.
The pipeline was fully restored on Tuesday with a pipeline with a maximum capacity of 450,000 barrels a day, after roughly a week of disruption.
TNP was run by Shell until earlier this month as part of the sale of a multinational company from Nigeria’s land-based oil industry.
Nigerian police said they were investigating the TNP fire and that two people were taken into custody.
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The river’s political crisis broke out shortly after Hubara took office as governor in May 2023 after he dropped out with his predecessor and Tinubu’s ally Naisom Waik.
Last month, the Nigerian Supreme Court ruled that the river “has no government” because Fubara was governed without a full-powered state assembly.
“The president’s actions were illegal,” said Cheta Nwanze, a partner at Lagos-based SBM Intelligence Company, adding that the fact that the emergency situation continued meant “the excuses he gave were hollowed out.”
Additional reporting by David Pilling of London. Steven Bernard visualizes and carts data
