President Bola Tinubu has directed all the heads of security forces and intelligence agencies to go after those stealing crude oil in the Niger Delta region.
Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, disclosed this to journalists after a 4-hour closed-door meeting with Defence Chief and other heads of security forces.
This is coming on the heels of a revelation made by the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Ogbonnaya Orji, on Monday, that the country lost $1.84bn worth of petroleum products from refineries in nine years.
The meeting, which was held at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, and led by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, also had the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, in attendance.
The representatives of Nigerian Customs Services, NIMASA, Nigerian Ports Authority, Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Department of State Services (DSS), among others were also in attendance.
Speaking to Defence Correspondents after the meeting, the NNPCL boss said achieving the desired economic stability in the country would be impossible without curbing oil theft and other crimes in the Niger-Delta region.
“We are here to engage with the CDS based on the directive of the president. The president had directed the CDS to take control of the crisis we are having in the Niger-Delta operational areas.
“Oil theft and pipeline vandalism have become a national issue, the president has directed the CDS to contain this within the shortest possible time so that we can restore national production to the level the president and the country is expecting.
“To do this, he needs the coordination and cooperation of all armed forces, the police, the DIA, the DSS among others. It is the survival of our country that is at stake today.
“Without restoring oil and gas production, we cannot have the economic stability that we desire. The president is clearly focused on this to deliver value to our country. It is impossible to do this without settling the crisis around our operational areas.
“We are already seeing progress, we are seeing substantial value that is being created by the coordination but we are very convinced that a solution is in sight.”
On his part, the Chief of Defence Staff, Musa vowed to eliminate all acts of vandalism and other criminal activities throughout the South-South region.
He said, “The truth about it is that whatever is happening in the South-South has been ongoing for such a very long time. And we feel it is high time that it is stopped.
“What we are promising Nigerians is that henceforth, the entire South-South will be cleared of any acts of vandalism, criminality within the general area.
“Like we said, the President has given us a mandate to ensure that we secure the entire South-South and to enable NNPC and others carry out their tasks so that we can have improved production.
“We know that Nigeria relies so much on what we produce. And so we want to use this medium to appeal to the communities, to have an understanding.”
He called on the host communities to trust and give the security agencies the needed support.
Musa said, “Yes, we know trust has been a problem. But they can trust us, they can trust the government, that we want to do things differently. Everyone will be carried along.
“Everyone has a role to play. It is not only for the security agencies alone. We need the communities to understand that pipeline vandalism and all the hazards being caused is also affecting them directly. And we need to stop that.”
The Defence Chief also said the operations of the security agencies would be harmonised to achieve the task given to him by the president, while assuring Nigerians that the results of the harmonised operation of the security agencies would be felt in the next two to three months.
He stated, “We need to work together. And this meeting we had today is to harmonize that based on the mandates that the President has given us.
“We’re going to work together as a team. All the operations will be harmonized. Coming on that, the Joint Task Force, with the land components of all the other agencies, and we’re going to work and bring results. And I can assure you within the next shortest possible time, two, three months, you will see results coming in.”
Similarly, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun assured that every step needed to be taken to curb oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta region would be taken.
He said, “We accept that we have challenges, but we must all come together to solve them. So, we need the cooperation of all agencies, we need the cooperation of the citizens.
“We need to take every step that we need to take to address all these issues. I am assuring you that in days ahead, you are going to see results.”
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