Nigeria president pledges better security in delta

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan waves after an official visit to the family house of late president Umaru Yar'Adua in the northern city of Katsina, May 8, 2010.

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's president pledged on Friday to develop the impoverished, oil-producing Niger Delta and improve security in the region.

In his first trip to the Niger Delta as president, Goodluck Jonathan promised in a speech to hundreds of former militants in the oil hub Port Harcourt that the government would better coordinate efforts to educate and reintegrate them into society.

Thousands of former rebels surrendered their arms last year to participate in a federal amnesty program that promised clemency, a monthly stipend, and job opportunities.

Although the program has been plagued with months of delays, the amnesty has delivered a relative calm to the Niger Delta with no major militant attack for nearly a year.

"The federal government, strictly aware of the need for a properly coordinated amnesty program, has achieved the much desired peace in the Niger Delta region," Jonathan told a crowded stadium of security forces and former rebels.

"We will consolidate on the gains of the amnesty program and do all that is humanely possible to prevent the Niger Delta from once again descending into a nightmare," he added.

Timi Alaibe, presidential adviser on Niger Delta affairs, said on Wednesday the government would relaunch efforts to rehabilitate and reintegrate 20,192 former militants, with the first 2,000 scheduled for training in the first week of June.

CRIME PAYS

Although large and organized militant attacks have waned in the delta, security officials say former rebels fed up with the delays in the amnesty program have turned to kidnapping, robbery and crude oil theft for alternative sources of income.

"We are waiting for the president to do something for us," said Papakaye Evans, a former militant who is now unemployed. "Only the conclusion of the amnesty will make us happy."

Oil thieves are suspected of being behind supply disruptions at Royal Dutch Shell and Agip facilities in the last few weeks, erasing recent gains in production made possible by the dissolution of key militant factions.

Years of insecurity in the Niger Delta have prevented Nigeria from pumping more than two thirds of its oil capacity, costing the government billions of dollars a year in revenue.

Former rebels said they could easily regroup and attack the oil industry if Jonathan, who is from the Niger Delta, fails to deliver on his promises.

"I assure you if the amnesty program fails many of us will be tempted to take up arms, return to the creeks to resume fighting again. I just hope we do not get to that point," said Clinton Ebiama, a former militant who says he now depends on handouts to feed his family.

(Writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Louise Ireland)