The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu has expressed grave concern and disappointment on the recent pipeline attacks by militants in the Niger Delta region, noting that three attacks have taken place over the last two weeks even whilst efforts were ongoing to prepare the grounds for dialogue.

In a statement made available to Economic Confidential in Abuja, the Minister said that despite months of intensive personal and collective efforts to engage all stakeholders in the region and despite the recent success in convening a meeting with His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari to begin exploring the opportunities for deepening the dialogue, that these attacks have continued.

He condemns these wanton attacks and reiterates that the path to providing lasting solutions for the Niger Delta challenges remains dialogue. He further appeals and enjoins all interested stakeholders in the Niger Delta to embrace the path of peace and dialogue and shun acts that further create difficulties for the country, impoverish the region and worsen the ecological problems of the region. He urges all militants to stop and give the ensuing dialogue a chance to birth peace in the region.

The Minister has again appealed to all leaders and stakeholders in and outside the region to join hands with the government to find a lasting solution to this problem. As distraught as he and most ministers from the Niger Delta region are with these unfortunate incidents, they shall not give up, but will continue to work under the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari to see how to deepen the engagement and get a complete stakeholder buy-in to the solution programme of the President.