Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt —The Federal Government has warned that it would no longer condone any form of criminality on the nation’s oil and gas facilities, including oil theft, vandalism and illegal oil bunkering and refinning activities in the country.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, gave the warning on Friday, when he led other key stakeholders on an on-the-spot-assessment of some pipelines damaged in Ibaa community, Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Sylva lamented that apart from causing huge losses for the country, oil thieves and vandals were also destroying livelihoods of the local communities and the environment.
“The community must be involved, the security arm must be involved and the third arm which is the operating publics must also be involved. I want to let everybody know that these criminals have their days numbered because the country has lost so much from their activities.”
Also speaking, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, said the scale of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism seen in the Niger Delta region was beyond explanation, while calling for all hands to be on deck to curb the spate of crude oil losses in the country.
Kyari expressed optimism that through a collaborative effort of government security agencies, host communities and oil companies, as well as with the deployment of the right technology, the menace would be contained.
Similarly, the Head, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, described the acts of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism as “a national disaster and the perpetrators as criminals.”
“For those who want to do legitimate business, there are clear government regulations on how that is done. But what we have seen here today are criminals and their activities will no longer be tolerated.”
For his part, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, assured that the military will deploy a different strategy and a new drive by pursuing not only the criminals, but also their sponsors.
“We are not only zeroing in on the criminals, but also on those who are supporting them,” the CDS announced.
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