Nigeria gov't vows to crackdown on pipeline attackers in Delta

Nigerian government has said it will crack down on groups responsible for recent pipeline attacks in the oil-producing Delta region.

“We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram,” Buhari said during a visit to China, referring to jihadists who have been waging an insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north.

Last month, gunmen blew up an oil pipeline belonging to Italy’s ENI in the Delta, a region which provides much of Nigeria’s oil production, killing three workers, according to officials.

In February militants staged a sophisticated underwater attack on a Shell pipeline, shutting down the 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal.

A slump in oil revenues has whacked public finances in Africa’s biggest economy. President Buhari has faced criticism for rejecting a devaluation of the naira, which analysts have said deters investment.

Reuters