TheCable

Suspected Niger Delta militants have blown up a crude oil trunkline of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) in Batan community, Warri south west council area of Delta state.

Dickson Ogugu, a community leader, confirmed the attack, saying it happened around 1am on Monday.

Lamenting the effect of such attacks in the region, Ogugu appealed to militants to sheathe their swords and embrace the dialogue offer of the federal government.

He recalled that earlier in the month, militants destroyed an oil facility in Batan.

No group has claimed responsibility for the latest incident, as the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), the group at the heart of recent attacks on oil assets, has not made any comment regarding the attack.

The site of the attack has been cordoned off by security personnel, who had a tough time locating it.

President Muhammadu Buhari has consistently appealed to the militants to give his administration a chance.

In a programme on Channels Television on Sunday, Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, said the activities of militants would affect the full implementation of the 2016 budget.

Though the militants have accused the government of not showing encouraging signs of dilogue, Adesina reiterated the commitment of the current administration to reaching a peace deal with the groups.

“The intention is to implement that budget as much as possible but then the circumstances are making it difficult because projections are not being met because of what is happening in the Niger Delta and other parts of the economy,” he had said.

“Every option is on the table. There was never a time anything was ruled out. All the options were on the table. You will recall that when some south-south leaders visited the president led by King Alfred Diete-Spiff, he also disclosed that he had encouraged the security agencies to dialogue with the militant and the leadership of that region. So, there was never a time that anything was ruled out dialogue.”