Federal Government has pledged to eliminate oil pipeline criminals while also applauding Tantita Security Services Limited for its contributions to pipeline protection in the Niger Delta region.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, gave this commendation while answering questions from reporters during his tour of oil facilities in the Niger-Delta on Saturday.
Accompanied by Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, as well as other government officials, Lokpobiri affirmed the commitment of the President Tinubu’s administration to curbing pipeline vandalism and oil theft across the nation.
Lokpobiri said: “We’re here because of the problem of pipeline vandalism and illegal bunkering that are going on in the Niger Delta.
“I believe that it has become an existential problem and we need to fight them. We need to fight these criminals to submission.
“What is happening here is so bad that we cannot even know the implications unless maybe when people start dying in their numbers that is when people will know that a few persons were profiting from this crime. We are here to wipe all of them out.
“So as a responsible government, we have decided that we are going to put a stop to it.
“We are going to work with stakeholders to ensure that we stop all this nonsense in our society. We are not going to allow them.
“I want to also use this opportunity to express our gratitude to Tantita that has been commissioned by the NNPCL to be able to do some work but we are going to do a lot more.”
The National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, also emphasised that the Federal Government is committed to maintaining its collaboration with Tantita Security Services Limited to combat pipeline vandalism and oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
Ribadu further stated that the government plans to implement additional measures in the near future to enhance pipeline security and bring about positive changes in the situation
Ribadu said: “We have done very well to get to where we are now. We are certainly going to take more measures. So far, things are beginning to change. Give us little time and you will see things change for the better.”
