FG urged to negotiate with Boko Haram over NNPC staff abduction

NIGERIAN Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS) have urged the federal government to adopt use of negotiation and “do everything humanly possible to meet demands of the sect” to secure release of its members recently abducted by dreaded Boko Haram sect.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Monday, members of the association, led by its president, Professor Silas Sunday Dada, said that negotiation method had shown to be more effective and lifesaving than use of force.

It is recalled that some members of the association, working with the NNPC, among other professionals had been killed and abducted by the dreaded Boko Haram members last Tuesday during an oil exploratory work near the shores of Lake Chad.

Members of the NMGS, who commended efforts of the present administration and its renewed confidence in tackling the Boko Haram issue once and for all, said that the recent sustained offensive by the Boko Haram group was to openly challenge and contest the government’s story on their degradation.

“It is saddening to observe that the celebrated claim by the Nigerian military for about a year now, over the ‘degradation of Boko Haram’ which created the flippant impression that the rebellious group has been demoralized, demobilized, defeated, and vanquished, was far from being true after all, as recent happenings have proved otherwise.

“Although, the need to grow Nigeria’s crude oil reserves must have motivated the government to intensify efforts on oil exploratory work in the inland Chad basin and Benue trough areas, Nigerians deserve to know the real reason why NNPC decided to embark on the Maiduguri suicide mission of searching for crude oil at Shekau’s backyard at a time when production level has climbed to 2.2 million barrels per day. Sadly enough, this daredevil stunt has unjustifiably created a new set of widows and fatherless children”, he said.

The NMGS, which said that huge amount of fund and human resources committed to fight insurgency to a standstill by the present administration largely underscored successes recorded so far, however, noted that the story of Boko Haram insurgency may have been different today if the previous administration had handled the saga the way the present administration was doing.

“Corruption in the security society and human rights abuses committed by them during the previous administration have hampered efforts to counter the unrest and nip it in the bud. Those who saddled with the constitutional obligations of protecting the lives and property of citizens of the Nigerian state as well as its territorial integrity chose to do otherwise as evident in recent revelation of how the state resources meant to fight the Boko Haram insurgency was diverted for personal use”, he said.