By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, to immediately curb crude oil theft and vandalism in the Niger Delta region of the country.
This was disclosed by the Group Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited(NNPCL), Mele Kyari, in an interview with journalists at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja, after a meeting of all security and intelligence agency heads convened by the Chief of Defence
He said the President gave the order as oil theft had become a national issue that needed to be surmounted to boost oil production in the country.
“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 is expecting,” Kyari 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.
“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 General Christopher Musa, in his comments, vowed to eliminate all acts of vandalism and other criminal activities throughout the South-South region.
“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, 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.”
The CDS urged the host communities to trust and give the security agencies the needed support, said the operations of the security agencies would be harmonised to achieve the task given to him by the president.
“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 are also affecting them directly. And we need to stop that. “
The CDS assured that the security agencies will harmonize efforts to give positive result 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. 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.”
The meeting was also attended by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, heads of Immigration, Nigerian Correctional Service and NSCDC.
