The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, on Tuesday met with heads of security agencies in the country and the Group Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari on the increasing cases of oil theft in the country.

The crucial meeting which took place at the Defence Headquarters, DHQ, Abuja was attended by the Service Chiefs, the Inspector General of Police(IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, representative of the Director General Department of State Services(DSS), Chief of Defence Intelligence(DIA), Comptroller General of Immigration, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Correctional Service among heads of other security agencies as well as the Group General Manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC).

Speaking after the closed-door meeting, the Chief of Defence Staff vowed to eliminate all acts of vandalism and other criminal activities throughout the South-South region as directed by the President, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

According to him, ‘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.

“As we said, the President has given us a mandate to ensure that we secure the entire South-South and to enable NNPC and others to carry out their tasks so that we can have improved production. We know that Nigeria relies so much on what we produce. And so we want to use this medium to appeal to the communities, to have an understanding.”

The CDS however called on the host communities to trust and give the security agencies the needed support in the task of ending all cases of oil theft in the country.

According to him, “Yes, we know trust has been a problem. But they can trust us, they can trust the government, that we want to do things differently. Everyone will be carried along.

“Everyone has a role to play. It is not only for the security agencies alone. We need the communities to understand that pipeline vandalism and all the hazards being caused are also affecting them directly. And we need to stop that,” he added.

The CDS assured in carrying out the assignment, the operations of the security agencies would be harmonised to achieve the task given to him by the president.

The Defence Chief assured Nigerians that the results of the harmonized operation of the security agencies would be felt in the next two to three months.

According to Gen Musa “We need to work together. And this meeting we had today is to harmonize that based on the mandates that the President has given us.

“We’re going to work together as a team. All the operations will be harmonized. Coming on that, the Joint Task Force, with the land components of all the other agencies, and we’re going to work and bring results. And I can assure you within the next shortest possible time, two, three months, you will see results coming in.”

On his part, the Inspector General of Police IGP, Dr Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun assured that every step needed to be taken to curb oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta region would be taken.

According to him, “We accept that we have challenges, but we must all come together to solve them. So, we need the cooperation of all agencies, we need the cooperation of the citizens. We need to take every step that we need to take to address all these issues. I am assuring you that in the days ahead, you are going to see results. ”

This came just as the Group Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari disclosed that President Bola Tinubu has given a marching order to the Military to curb oil theft and vandalism in the Niger Delta region within the shortest possible time.

Speaking after the meeting, he lamented that the menace had become a national issue that needed to be surmounted to boost oil production in the country.

He declared that achieving the desired economic stability would be impossible without curbing oil theft and other crimes in the Niger Delta region.

“We are here to engage with the CDS based on the 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.

“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. The president is clearly focused on this to deliver value to our country. It is impossible to do this without settling the crisis around our operational areas.

“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,” he sid. (Nigerian Tribune)

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