The Group Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari on Tuesday said President Bola Tinubu has given marching orders to the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, to curb oil theft and vandalism in the Niger Delta region within the shortest possible time.
According to him, the menace has become a national issue that needs to be surmounted to boost oil production in the country.
On Monday, the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Dr Ogbonnaya Orji, disclosed that the country lost $1.84bn worth of petroleum products from refineries in nine years.
But speaking to journalists at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, following a meeting of all security and intelligence agency heads convened by the Chief of Defence Staff, the NNPCL boss stated that achieving the desired economic stability would be impossible without curbing oil theft and other crimes in the Niger Delta region.
Kyari said, “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 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. ”
The Chief of Defence Staff 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, 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.
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 are also affecting them directly. And we need to stop that. ”
Musa also said the operations of the security agencies would be harmonised to achieve the task given to him by the president.
The Defence Chief assured Nigerians that the results of the harmonized operation of the security agencies would be felt in the next two to three months.
He said, “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 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 assure you that in the days ahead, you are going to see results.”