President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, to eliminate oil theft and vandalism in the Niger Delta region as soon as possible.
This was disclosed by the Group Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Mele Kyari on Tuesday.
Kyari said this has been a pressing issue to the country because it has been occurring over time.
According to him, it is stopping the country from boosting its oil production.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr Ogbonnaya Orji, disclosed that the country lost $1.84bn worth of petroleum products from refineries in nine years.
He added that CDS will be engage base on 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,” he said.
“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 also promised 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.”
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