By Nick Tattersall
LAGOS (Reuters) - The main militant group in Nigeria'soil-producing Niger Delta said on Wednesday it would attackmajor oil pipelines in the next 30 days to prove it had notreceived payment from the government to end its campaign.
The head of the state-run oil firm NNPC was quoted inNigerian newspapers on Wednesday as saying the company had paidmilitant groups $12 million (6 million pounds) to protectfacilities including the Chanomi creek pipeline in Delta state.
NNPC later issued a statement saying it had been quoted outof context and had contracted a local community constructioncompany to carry out repairs at Chanomi for $50 million, whichit said was part of its "community policing policy".
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta(MEND), whose attacks have cut Nigeria's oil output by around afifth since early 2006, said the money had gone to criminalgangs and that genuine "freedom fighters" could not be boughtoff.
"MEND is aware that huge payments have been made to somecriminal gangs in Delta state as a protection fee ... MEND willnever sell its birthright for a bowl of porridge," the groupsaid in an e-mailed statement.
"To prove that we are not a part of this deal, the Chanomicreek pipeline and other major pipelines will be destroyedwithin the next 30 days," it said.
Bomb attacks on pipelines in the delta, the hub of Africa'sbiggest oil industry which produces around 2 million barrelsper day, have disrupted supplies from the world's eighthbiggest oil exporter and helped push global energy prices torecord highs.
NNPC's Chanomi creek pipeline feeds from the Escravosterminal into refineries in Warri and Kaduna.
Anglo-Dutch giant Royal Dutch Shell, whose facilities havebeen amongst the worst hit by MEND's campaign of sabotage, alsohas a pipeline in the Chanomi creek which feeds into theForcados oil export terminal.
"SETTLING THE BOYS"
The government of President Umaru Yar'Adua is under immensepressure to pacify the region and has promised to address theroot causes of the unrest by bringing much-needed developmentto its impoverished and polluted villages.
Abubakar Yar'Adua, group managing director of NNPC, wasquoted in several Nigerian newspapers as telling aparliamentary committee on Tuesday that the company had heldtalks with the militants and paid them funds so that it couldrepair Chanomi.
"The price we pay is very high. It is difficult to getexpatriates to work in the Niger Delta," he was quoted assaying by Nigeria's The Guardian newspaper.
"We paid militants $12 million because we were losing $81million to the problem of the Chanomi pipeline," he said.
Successive administrations in Nigeria have effectivelybought off the leaders of militant groups in the Niger Delta byoffering financial rewards for laying down their weapons, astrategy known locally as "settling the boys".
For similar reasons, local youths have been employed asvigilantes to keep watch over oil pipelines and protect themfrom attacks by crude oil thieves.
But the line between criminality and militancy has becomeblurred and some analysts say the strategy has exacerbated theproblem, giving criminal gangs greater leverage and allowingfighters with fluctuating allegiances to carry weapons.
(Editing by Jon Boyle)
