President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja rose from a crucial meeting with security
chiefs and challenged them to bring an end to crude oil theft in the country.
The Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, said the president gave the challenge
when he met behind closed doors with security chiefs, at the State House, Abuja.
Adamu said the president specifically enjoined the security agencies to intensify security
along the petroleum pipelines and other facilities to check the menace.
“Sequel to the improvement in the general security situation in the country, we have been
charged by the President to ensure there is a near zero crime society in all geo-political
zones; in fact, the whole of the country.
“So, we’ve also been charged to increase security along the pipelines to make sure that
crude oil theft is stopped completely because the loss that the country is facing in that
regard is not tolerated,’’ he said.
The IGP also noted that the country had witnessed a significant drop in the activities of
bandits and kidnappers, following an improvement in security situation across the country.
“We have noticed within this quarter that the security situation in the country is stable. We
made comparison of what happened in the previous quarters and this last quarter and we
saw that there is tremendous decrease in kidnappings, banditry, armed robbery and even
acts of cultism.
“You can see from the situation in the North-West zone of the country that banditry and
kidnapping has reduced tremendously and we have statistics to back what we are saying,’’
he said
Adamu also revealed that a good number of bandits and kidnappers had been apprehended
along Kaduna – Abuja and Kaduna – Birnin Gwari roads.
According to him, many of the bandits’ camps had been destroyed while the police have
intensified efforts to apprehend those bandits who refused to surrender.
MM/GIK/APA