Presidency Seeks Germany's help on Niger Delta Crisis and Oil Theft

President Muham­madu Buhari has asked Germany to assist his war against crude oil theft by provid­ing Nigerian Navy with training, equipment and sharing of intelligence.
The President spoke yesterday at the State House, Abuja during an audience with the For­eign Affairs Minister of Federal Republic of Ger­many, D. Frank-Walters Steinmeier.
Buhari said, “Nigeria’s oil is stolen and taken away through the Gulf of Guinea. Adequate train­ing and equipping of our Navy will prevent this”.

He told the German envoy that the security challenge in the North East of the country was under control with Boko Haram largely defeated.
“But another serious form of insecurity has reared its head in the Ni­ger Delta. The objective is to colonise the country economically by sabotag­ing oil and gas installa­tions.
“We are trying to speak with their lead­ers to know how many groups there are and we are also working with the oil companies. The militants engage in so­phisticated sabotage us­ing skills they had gained from trainings, either by the government or the oil companies, to vandalise installations deep in the sea.
“We need to under­stand who the real agita­tors are and engage with them so that confidence can be restored in the region”, the President pointed out.
He explained that the Niger Delta situation was more complex, since the militants had no central command and some of them were mere extor­tioners but promised that a solution would be found to the unrest soon.
In his response, Dr Steinmeier said Ger­many was happy to hear of the strides made by the Buhari administra­tion against insurgents in the North-East and was equally willing to lend a helping hand in resolv­ing the crisis in the Niger Delta.
He applauded Buhari’s war against corruption which had his country’s support, adding that Ger­many was also interested in investing in renewable energy, gas exploration, mining, among others, to boost Nigeria’s economy.