Reps drop motion to probe oil theft, amnesty programme

Posted by admin House, Legislature, Niger Delta Thursday, November 24th, 2011

The House of Representatives, on Thursday, threw out a motion seeking to probe the hijack of oil supply vessel “MV Endeavour”, the kidnapping of three expatriates off Niger Delta coastline and the implementation of the amnesty programme.

The three expatriates were reportedly kidnapped on November 18 while working in a vessel serving at the Chevron oil field at Agbami, Bayelsa State.

Honourable Reyenieju Daniel had moved a motion entitled: “Hijack of Vessel and Kidnapping of Three Expatriates off Niger Delta Coastline.”

He had also asked the House to investigate the implementation of the amnesty programme with a view to finding out why some agitated youths in the Niger Delta were excluded from the programme.

According to him, “the Agbami oil field produces 250,000 barrels of crude oil on daily basis” adding that, it was the second armed attack on Chevron vessel off the coast of Bayelsa in the month of November.

He lamented that the recent attacks on ships in the Niger Delta threatened the amnesty programme initiated by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua as a means of resolving the lingering security crisis in the area.

He further said, “if over 27,000 ex-militants had been demobilised, rehabilitated and reintegrated across the nine Niger Delta states by the amnesty programme, with billions of naira spent by the Federal Government, relative peace ought to have been witnessed in the region.”

He then prayed the House to constitute an ad hoc committee to urgently investigate the implementation of the amnesty programme and the reasons for the exclusion of some agitated youths in the Niger Delta.

However, after rigorous debate for and against the motion, the deputy Speaker, Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, who presided over the plenary, put the motion to vote and it was unanimously thrown out.

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