The Defence Headquarters yesterday blamed the prolonged crisis in the Niger Delta on foreign elements  coming into the region especially the proximity of the region to the much coveted Gulf of Guinea.

At his maiden press briefing, the Director of Defence Information, (DDI), Col. Christopher Adewole Jemitola, who said but for commitments of the Joint Task Force stationed there by the Federal Government which has brought about seeming peace and order, the interest of the foreigners who have in one way or the other contributed to the crisis.

Jemitola has, however, warned that despite foreign interest in the crisis in the region, the military will not be intimidated into abdicating its constitutional role in protecting the area in particular and the nation in general against internal and external crisis that may threaten the peace of the country.

“Let us not forget that because of the strategic location of the Niger Delta to the Gulf of Guinea and its economic wealth, this has attracted many forces, both positive and negative.”

“What is happening in the Niger Delta is that some of the criminalities we are talking about have direct involvement of foreign elements. The responsibility of the military is to protect the territorial integrity of the nation and also ensure law and order”.

“The economic future of this country depends on how much we secure that area. We cannot fold our arms and see criminals, especially if there are foreign elements that are involved to take charge of our economy. We cannot afford that”, Jemitola said.

The new DDI, who recently replaced Brig. Gen. M. D. Yusuf, commended the JTF for securing the environment in which they were deployed.“Today we see a re-emergence of economic activities that were non-existent before now.”

“People are going about their normal lives.  There is a check on illegal oil bunkering; the destruction of illegal oil refineries; and a check on the spate of kidnapping as we had witnessed before", he said.

“Don’t forget that before now it was difficult for any economic activities to take place in that area. There were a lot of criminal acts and you will agree with me today that all these have been reduced to very minimal level”. 

“It was because of the high unacceptable levels of criminality in the Niger Delta that necessitated the setting up of JTF to guarantee the security of the environment and for the economic activities of the people".“Let me restate that it was the unacceptable level of criminality in the area that led to the setting up of these taskforces. I must also stress that Nigeria cannot be at war with itself. It is an internal security challenge that government has looked at and found it necessary to deploy troops as aids to civil authority".“Once the situation is accessed and is found that the presences of the troops are no longer required in the area, they will be withdrawn as soon as those conditions are met” he said.Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army has disclosed that the units meant to go Somalia for the Peace Keeping Operation in that country is ready but was awaiting logistics before the final deployment which will be done soon.