Scale of crude oil theft in Rivers state shocking, says NNPC
Mele Kyari, the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has said the scale of crude oil theft in Rivers state, in South-South Nigeria, is “unexplainable”.
He said this in a press release issued by Garba Deen Muhammed, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Unit of the NNPC on Thursday.
Kyari, alongside the Minister of Petroleum, Timipreye Sylva; Chief of Defence Staff General Lucky Irabor, and the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commision, NUPRC, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, had visted scenes of vandalised pipelines in some areas and communities of Rivers State, on Wednesday.
Based on the shocking revelations, the Federal Government warned that it would no longer condone any form of criminality on the nation’s oil and gas facilities and illegal refiners.
Sylva said the activities of the vandals are causing huge losses for the country and at the same time destroying livelihoods of locals and the environment.
To solve the problem, Sylva said “the community must be involved, the security arm must be involved and the third arm which is the operating publics must also be involved. I want to let everybody know that these criminals have their days numbered because the country has lost so much from their activities.”
On his part, General Irabor said, “We are not only zeroing in on the criminals, but also on those who are supporting them.”
Engr. Gbenga Komolafe for his part, stated that crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism as “a national disaster and the perpetrators as criminals.”
“For those who want to do legitimate business, there are clear government regulations on how that is done. But what we’ve seen here today are criminals and their activities will no longer be tolerated,” he said.
