Tinubu orders CDS to curb oil theft in N’Delta

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, to curb oil theft and vandalism in the Niger Delta.

The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to him, the menace had become a national issue that required urgent solution to boost oil production in the country.

Recall that the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Dr Ogbonnaya Orji, had, on Monday, disclosed that the country lost $1.84bn worth of petroleum products from refineries in nine years.

While addressing journalists at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, after a meeting of all security and intelligence agency heads convened by the Chief of Defence Staff, Kyari stated that
curbing oil theft and other crimes in the Niger Delta region was crucial to achievement of economic stability.

“We are here to engage with the CDS based on the directive of the president. The president has directed the CDS to take control of the crisis we are having in the Niger Delta operational area. Oil theft and pipeline vandalism have become a national issue. The president has directed the CDS to contend this within the shortest possible time so that we can restore national production to the level the president and the country are expecting,” the NNPCL boss said.

“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,” Kyari added.

“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.”

The Chief of Defence Staff who vowed to eliminate all acts of vandalism and other criminal activities throughout the South-South region, noted: “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 it is stopped. What we are promising Nigerians is that henceforth, the entire South-South will be cleared of any acts of vandalism or criminality within the general area.

“As we said, the President has given us a mandate to ensure that we secure the entire South-South and to enable NNPC and others to 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.

“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,” Musa said.

“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 are also affecting them directly. And we need to stop that.”

He also said the operations of the security agencies would be aggregated to achieve the mandate given to him by the president.

Musa assured Nigerians that the results of the harmonized operation of the security agencies would be felt in the next two to three months.

“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. I can assure you that within the next shortest possible time, two, three months, you will see results coming in. ”

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.

“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 assure you that in the days ahead, you are going to see results,” Egbetokun said.