British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright, has finally spoken up about the menace of the Niger Delta Avengers.
Paul Arkwright warned against the use of force in curtail the Niger Delta Avengers.
Paul Arkwright, stated this on Thursday in Abeokuta, Ogun state after he paid a courtesy visit to the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo.
He warned that the military should tread softly even though there is the need to protect companies and investments.
He revealed that his country was in talks with Nigeria on the best approach to adopt concerning the resurgence of militant activities in the Niger Delta region.
“We need to protect the investment there, not just British companies, international companies but Nigerian companies as well.
“We are talking to Nigerian authorities about that, we need to have what we called a comprehensive approach to this; in other words we need to have dialogue and we need to engage the communities down there.
“We need to understand the grievances of the people down there, we need to ensure the environmental damage is cleaned up.
“We need to protect the investment there, not just British companies, international companies but Nigerian companies as well.
“When there is criminal activity, (it) is right that the government should take proactive action against that criminal activity, we strongly support them but we don’t think military solution alone is the final solution to handle issues in Niger Delta.
“And to handle Boko Haram in the north, so we need comprehensive approach and that is what we have been talking to the Nigerian government about.
“I was very encouraged to hear Hon Minister Ike Chukwu say (something) about the need for dialogue and we are certainly looking to see what we can do to help in dialogue and bring peaceful outcome to what you say is economic threat to this country.”
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