Gwamcee News
The Honorable Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has commissioned eight NSCDC Gunboats to wage a full-scale war against the perpetrators of this heinous crime.
This is part of the minister’s efforts to end the menace of crude oil theft, illegal oil bunkering, and pipeline vandalism in the nation as contained in a statement signed by the Civil Defence’s Director of Public Relations, DCC Olusola Odumosu, and released to the National Association of Online Security News Publishers, NAOSNP.
According to the statement, the move became necessary to strengthen the combative capacity of the NSCDC Anti Vandalism Squad in stemming the tide of huge revenue loss to the Federal Government in the oil sector.
The Minister while commissioning the gunboats in Port Harcourt, Rivers State described the incidences of oil theft as an organized crime ridding the nation of accrued revenue running into millions of dollars annually.
The gunboats are towards a renewed fight against economic saboteurs by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
According to him: “The Country in recent past has recorded various occurrences of crude oil theft and reports have shown that the country loses millions of dollars daily such that of the 141 million barrels of oil produced in the 1st quarter of the year 2022, only 132 million barrels of oil were received at export terminals; the aftermath results further reveal that over 9 million barrels of oil were lost to crude oil theft.”
He also decried the negative impacts of crude oil theft and oil pipeline vandalism in the nation and called on all Security Agencies to shun Inter-agency rivalries and synergies by supporting the fight against oil theft to salvage and rid the nation’s economy of saboteurs.
The Minister further maintained that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps as the lead agency in safeguarding critical national assets and infrastructure is mandated to use the available logistics provided by the government to reduce the crime rate and by extension take the war against crude oil theft to the camp of the enemies.
Also, the NSCDC Commandant General, Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, while extolling the role of government in the provision of necessary logistics to enhance the fight against oil pipeline vandalism across the nation affirmed that the 8 newly commissioned gunboats will boost the morale of the Corps in combating the menace of crude oil theft along the waterways.
The CG said: “The NSCDC is generally expected to effectively, safeguard Critical Infrastructure and oil installations which are very central and vital to the socio-economic development of the nation.
“The Corps is saddled with the mandate to guard against oil theft and illegal oil bunkering through the provision of physical security to oil pipelines against vandalism.
“Therefore, any threat to the oil and gas sector is automatically considered a high-security concern owing to the debilitating effects it has on national development.
“It also constitutes environmental degradation, pollution, destruction of land and aquatic life, loss of means of livelihood and a drastic reduction in the inflow of foreign exchange needed to bolster the economy of the nation.”
However, he affirmed that a marching order has been issued to all Zonal Commanders, State Commandants, and Heads of Antivandal Unit across formations to be battle ready with a renewed vigor to stamp out oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the nation.
He reiterated the Corps’ determination and unwavering commitment to the war against illegal oil bunkering and assured the government and the entire nation that the gunboats would be distributed to states in the coastal region as the Corps continue to collaborate with the Military and other security agencies.
He enjoined Nigerians to assist security agencies in winning the war against the enemies of the nation by volunteering credible Intelligence and Information that could lead to the possible arrest and prosecution of oil pipeline vandals and saboteurs of the nation’s economy.
