The militant group whose pipeline bombings and kidnappings have cut Nigeria’s oil production by as much as 40 per cent on Sunday declared an indefinite ceasefire, boosting government efforts to stabilise the restive, crude-rich Niger Delta.

The Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger Delta, an umbrella organisation of numerous armed groups, had previously been threatening renewed attacks even as senior commanders and thousands of footsoldiers emerged from their bases deep in the delta’s creeks to accept a government amnesty.