$1.84bn Loss Revenue: Tinubu Directs Security Heads To Crack Down On Oil Thieves

In a bid to check the frequent loss of revenue occasioned by oil theft, President Bola Tinubu yesterday directed all the heads of security forces and intelligence agencies to go after those stealing crude oil in the Niger Delta region.

Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, disclosed this to journalists, after a four-hour closed-door meeting with Defence Chief and other heads of security forces.

Recall that the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Ogbonnaya Orji, had on Monday, said the country lost $1.84 billion worth of petroleum products from refineries in nine years.

The meeting, which was held at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, and led by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, also had the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, in attendance.

The representatives of Nigerian Customs Services, NIMASA, Nigerian Ports Authority, Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Department of State Services (DSS), among others were also in attendance.

Speaking to Defence Correspondents after the meeting, the NNPCL boss said achieving the desired economic stability in the country would be impossible without curbing oil theft and other crimes in the Niger-Delta region.

He said: “We are here to engage with the CDS based on the directive of the president. “The president had directed the CDS to take control of the crisis we are having in the Niger-Delta operational areas.

“Oil theft and pipeline vandalism have become a national issue, the president has directed the CDS to contain 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.”