ABUJA - Nigeria should divert a quarter of its oil revenues to the restive Niger Delta and release the leader of the region's main militant group if it is to achieve peace there, a panel set up by the government said on Monday.
Attacks by militants and kidnappings of foreign oil workers have shut down around a fifth of crude output from Africa's biggest oil and gas industry over the past three years and peace in the delta's mangrove-lined creeks remains as elusive as ever.
Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, who is from the region, inaugurated a 40-man panel in September of former ministers, activists and academics to consider ways to end the unrest.
"The lack of political will on the part of federal and state governments has been responsible for the escalation of the Niger Delta crisis," the panel's chairman, Ledum Mitee, said before presenting the conclusions to President Umaru Yar'Adua.
The report by the "Mitee committee" said the allocation of funds from national oil and gas revenues to the region should be increased to 25 percent in order to finance new infrastructure.
It said a ceasefire should be agreed to allow disarmament of militants to begin within six months and that a youth employment scheme should be set up to employ 2,000 of those who handed over their weapons in each local government in the region.
The authorities should also release Henry Okah, leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) militant group, who is on trial for gun-running and treason in the central Nigerian city of Jos, the committee said.
MEND has said Okah's release is one of its top priorities.
Endless panels, reports and the promise of talks have failed to stabilise the heartland of Nigeria's oil industry, which pumps around 2 million barrels of oil per day (bpd), making it the world's eighth biggest exporter.
Heavily armed militants in speedboats have launched attacks on military positions and oil facilities, saying they are fighting for greater local control of the oil wealth.
The insecurity also presents a growing threat to exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Nigeria provides some 10 percent of world supply, much of it to Europe and the United States where it is used for power generation or making chemicals.
The line between militancy and criminality is blurred.
Criminal syndicates grow rich from a trade in stolen crude oil siphoned from sabotaged pipelines worth millions of dollars a day. Some analysts say the instability will not end unless that source of income can be turned off.
Yar'Adua promised when he came to power 18 months ago to quickly address the unrest, freeing two jailed militants and drawing up plans for formal talks.
But there has been little tangible progress since then.
Militant leaders, the security forces and oil investors are still waiting to see who will head up a new Niger Delta ministry announced almost three months ago and what new strategies, if any, it will come up with.
Attacks by militants and kidnappings of foreign oil workers have shut down around a fifth of crude output from Africa's biggest oil and gas industry over the past three years and peace in the delta's mangrove-lined creeks remains as elusive as ever.
Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, who is from the region, inaugurated a 40-man panel in September of former ministers, activists and academics to consider ways to end the unrest.
"The lack of political will on the part of federal and state governments has been responsible for the escalation of the Niger Delta crisis," the panel's chairman, Ledum Mitee, said before presenting the conclusions to President Umaru Yar'Adua.
The report by the "Mitee committee" said the allocation of funds from national oil and gas revenues to the region should be increased to 25 percent in order to finance new infrastructure.
It said a ceasefire should be agreed to allow disarmament of militants to begin within six months and that a youth employment scheme should be set up to employ 2,000 of those who handed over their weapons in each local government in the region.
The authorities should also release Henry Okah, leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) militant group, who is on trial for gun-running and treason in the central Nigerian city of Jos, the committee said.
MEND has said Okah's release is one of its top priorities.
Endless panels, reports and the promise of talks have failed to stabilise the heartland of Nigeria's oil industry, which pumps around 2 million barrels of oil per day (bpd), making it the world's eighth biggest exporter.
Heavily armed militants in speedboats have launched attacks on military positions and oil facilities, saying they are fighting for greater local control of the oil wealth.
The insecurity also presents a growing threat to exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Nigeria provides some 10 percent of world supply, much of it to Europe and the United States where it is used for power generation or making chemicals.
The line between militancy and criminality is blurred.
Criminal syndicates grow rich from a trade in stolen crude oil siphoned from sabotaged pipelines worth millions of dollars a day. Some analysts say the instability will not end unless that source of income can be turned off.
Yar'Adua promised when he came to power 18 months ago to quickly address the unrest, freeing two jailed militants and drawing up plans for formal talks.
But there has been little tangible progress since then.
Militant leaders, the security forces and oil investors are still waiting to see who will head up a new Niger Delta ministry announced almost three months ago and what new strategies, if any, it will come up with.
