Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, says that security and intelligence chiefs in the country have devised strategies to combat crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Musa told a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja after a closed door meeting with some security chiefs that it was high time that the oil theft in the region was stopped, promising that the security agencies would henceforth clear the region of any acts of vandalism and criminality.
He said that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu had mandated the security agencies to secure the entire Niger Delta region and to enable NNPCL and other International Oil Companies (IOCs) carry out their task to ensure improved production.
“We know that Nigeria relies so much on what we can produce and so we want to use this medium to appeal to the communities to have an understanding.
“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,” Musa said.
Musa added that there was the need for agencies to work together, adding that the meeting was to enable them harmonise their strategies based on President Tinubu’s mandate.
He said that all their operations would be harmonised under the joint task force with the land components of all the other agencies.
“I can assure you within the next shortest possible time, you will see results coming in,” he added.
In his remarks, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, said that the services and agencies agreed at the security meeting that all must come together to solve the problems.
Egbetokun said that there was the need to take every necessary step to address all the issues, assuring that results would be visible in the days ahead.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari, who attended the meeting, said that the engagement was in response to the directives of President Tinubu to the defence chiefs to take control of the crisis in the Niger Delta operational area.
Kyari said that oil theft and bunkering had become a major national issue and that the President had directed the chief of defence staff to ensure that they contained it within the shortest time frame.
He said the move was aimed at restoring national production to the level expected by the country.
“To this end, we need the coordination and cooperation of the armed forces, the police, the Department of Military Intelligence.
“We need the coordination of everyone in the Nigerian Police, the DSS, and everyone is on board to see that this activity goes forward so that we can restore production,” he said.
GIK/APA
Nigeria’s defence chief pledges to tackle pipeline vandalism
