Kunle Kalejaye 18 August 2016, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has appealed to militants in the Niger Delta to end pipeline vandalism.
According to him, the activities of the militants not only posed economic challenges to the country but pollutes the Niger Delta environment.
The minister, who spoke in Lagos at the National Association of Energy Correspondents’ 2016 annual conference, said:
“The time has come to stop pipeline vandalism”, noting that the solution to the crisis in the Delta was not violence but dialogue ‘which at the end of the day, brings peace, increased crude production and help diversification of the economy”.
He noted that he spends his “day and night seeking for solutions because we must find ways to boost crude production before talking about diversification”.