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Kyari, Sylva, others vow to crush oil thieves, lament crashing revenue

Ololade Omosan-Agie

The Federal Government has warned that it would no longer condone any form of criminality on the nation’s oil and gas facilities and installations.

It said in a statement that crude oil thieves, pipeline vandals, and illegal refiners had their days numbered.

The statement issued by the spokesperson of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Garba-Deen Muhammad, stated that the warning came from the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva; Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor; and the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe.

They gave the warning during an on-the-spot assessment of some pipelines damaged by pipeline vandals and other criminals in some areas and communities of Rivers State.

Speaking at Ibaa Community in Emeoha Local Government of Rivers State where the Federal Government delegation witnessed an illegal refinery burnt down by the military, Sylva said apart from causing huge losses for the country, the criminals were also destroying livelihoods of locals and the environment.

He said, “The community must be involved, the security arm must be involved and the third arm which is the operating public 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.”

Also speaking, Irabor stated that in carrying out Mr. President’s directives to contain losses from these criminalities, the military would deploy a different strategy and a new drive by pursuing not only the criminals but also their sponsors.

“We are not only zeroing in on the criminals, but also on those who are supporting them,” he said.

In his remarks, Komolafe described the acts of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism as a national disaster and the perpetrators as criminals.

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