Avengers in Southern Nigeria

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Variant cover art for New Avengers#1 (Feb. 2005), by Joe Quesada andRichard Isanove.

President Buhari has had some success against Boko Haram in the north, but now he is facing more violence in the south. 

The Economist reports that:
An army of unemployed young men ... is threatening to rise up in southern Nigeria and blow up oil pipelines. The industry, on which Nigeria depends for nearly all government revenues, could be crippled, as it was for much of the early 2000s. Production has already fallen to about 1.5m barrels a day (b/d), down from 2.2m last year, as attacks gather pace. This has helped push the global oil price back up to almost $50 a barrel. And it could spell disaster for President Muhammadu Buhari, who is trying to stave off recession. His budget assumed almost double that level of output this year.

Responsibility for much of the damage has been claimed by a mysterious and skilful band called the Niger Delta Avengers...

Reuters reports that:
the Niger Delta Avengers ... might agree to a ceasefire on Thursday (today) to allow the government time to meet its demands ... The militants say they want a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth to go to the impoverished Delta region. ...
Among the factors standing in the way of a ceasefire is that militants are divided into small groups and leaders have little sway over unemployed youths willing to work for anyone who pays them. ... 
Earlier this month, the government said it would scale down its military campaign in the Delta as part of an attempt to pursue talks with militants, who previously laid down arms in 2009 in exchange for cash benefits under a government amnesty.
The government angered former militants when it cut by two-thirds the budget allocated for the amnesty program which provided stipends and employment training.

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