The
Federal Government’s effort to combat the recurrent episodes of oil
theft propelled by the escalating cases of pipeline vandalism and
illegal oil bunkering took a fresh turn on Friday with the establishment
of a joint oil industry and military task force.
The force, according to the Minister of
Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been saddled with the
mandate of eradicating the oil theft menace to ensure the survival of
the Nigerian economy.
The team, created at the end of a
roundtable on the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry convened by the minister
on Friday, is made up of personnel from the oil industry and the
military as well as the Police Force.
The meeting had in attendance the Chief
of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Oluseyi Petirin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt.
Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika; representatives of the Chief of Air Staff,
Chief of Naval Staff, Inspector General of Police, while the Group
Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr.
Austen Oniwon, led all the NNPC Joint Venture partners to the session.
Alison-Madueke said at the end of the
session that while huge amount of dollars had in the last one year been
spent on pipeline repairs, a record volume of crude valued at $7bn had
been lost to crude theft via illegal bunkering.
The minister, who decried the menace of
oil theft, said the new understanding would strengthen partnership with
leadership of security agencies in curbing the problem.
“In the last six months, the level of
oil theft in the country has become alarming and has necessitated the
need for this round table with all stakeholders; we are looking at
short, medium and long term solutions to tackle the issue as oil theft
is taking its toll on the nation’s economy,” the minister said.
While thanking the Service chiefs for
the support, Alison-Madueke stressed the need for urgent replacement of
old pipelines and rehabilitation of the infrastructure in the sector.
Air Marshall Petinrin, who led other
service chiefs to the forum, said that the essence of the task force was
to checkmate incessant oil theft in the country.
He said that senior army personnel and
other security agencies would be included in the team to underscore the
importance of the assignment.
“I quite agree with the collective
decision of the stakeholders on ways to address oil theft in the
country. All the security agencies will ensure adequate monitoring of
the country’s oil and gas facilities to logical conclusion,’’ he said.
Petinrin assured that the security personnel that would be involved in the assignment would never compromise
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