LAGOS (AFP) - The most prominent armed gang in Nigeria's restive oil region, MEND, said Wednesday it had not collected protection money from the country's national oil group, and vowed new attacks within 30 days to "prove it."

The head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Abubakar Yar'Adua, told a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday that the firm paid 12 million dollars (7.56 million euros) in protection fees to Niger Delta militants to enable the repair of a damaged key crude supply pipeline.

"To prove that we are not a part of this deal, the Chanomi creek pipeline and other major pipelines will be destroyed within the next 30 days," the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in an e-mail to AFP.

"MEND is aware that huge payments have been made to some criminal gangs in Delta state as protection fee," it said.

The armed group alleged that the NNPC disbursed more than 25 million dollars which were shared by military commanders, government officials and politicians.

"MEND will never sell its birthright for a bowl of porridge when the impoverished masses in the region continue to live in abject poverty," it said.

Yar'Adua had told the parliamentary hearing that the protection payments were made over two months, but did not give the name of the beneficiaries.

Violent attacks and kidnappings targeting oil companies are a frequent occurrence throughout the Niger Delta.

Some are carried out by militants claiming to be fighting for a larger share of the region's oil wealth for local people, others by criminal gangs out to make ransom money.

Several foreign firms, including French tyre company Michelin and oil servicing firm Wilbros, have left the Niger Delta because of security problems.

The unrest has reduced Nigeria's oil output by a quarter, causing it to lose its position as Africa's biggest oil producer to Angola, according to figures from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

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