Nigeria’s Acting Leader Woos Oil Companies
By WILL CONNORS IN LAGOS, NIGERIA, And SPENCER SWARTZ IN LONDON
Nigeria’s new acting president, Goodluck Jonathan, is attempting to breathe life into the nation’s ailing energy sector just two days after assuming the duties of President Umaru Yar’Adua, who has been out of the country since November with health problems.
Mr. Jonathan summoned several executives from foreign oil companies on Thursday to meet with top Nigerian officials. A focal point of the talks: militants who have sabotaged pipelines, disrupting production and oil prices.
Mr. Jonathan is Nigeria’s first president from an ethnic minority or the Niger Delta—an area the size of England that is rich in oil but long plagued by poverty and violence against the energy industry. That ethnic background could help him work with militants in consolidating the peace process, say officials and analysts.
“There’s concern that the militants are getting irritated and worried,” said Emmanuel Egbogah, the president’s oil adviser.