By Desmond Ejibas
Port Harcourt – The Federal Government on Tuesday delivered eight newly acquired ballistic gunboats to Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), to tackle illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalism in the nation’s waterways.
Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola inaugurated the gunboats at a ceremony in Port Harcourt, according to a statement by NSCDC’s spokesman, DCC Olusola Odumosu.
He said the country had lost several millions in revenue to activities of oil thieves and illegal bunkers, who break into pipelines to steal crude oil.
According to him, the federal government had taken actionable steps to eliminate oil theft from the country.
“In the first quarter of 2022, the country produced 141 million barrels of crude oil but received only 132 million of barrels at the export terminal.
“This means that the country lost nine million barrels of crude oil to oil thieves in the first quarter alone.
Aregbesola said the losses in crude oil revenue had impacted negatively on the nation’s economy and affected the country’s ability to meet its OPEC quota.
“To this end, it is important that security agencies shun inter-agency rivalries.
“The security agencies should synergize and support the fight against oil theft, in order to rid economic saboteurs, to salvage the nation’s economy,” he added.
Receiving the gunboats, Commandant General of NSCDC, Dr Ahmed Abubakar said the gunboats would boost the morale of operatives to take the fight to illegal bunkers.
He said the gunboats would be immediately deployed to the creeks and waterways to complement ongoing maritime operations in the Niger Delta.
“The NSCDC is saddled with the mandate to guard against oil theft, illegal bunkering through the provision of physical security to oil pipelines against vandalism.
“Therefore, any threat to the oil and gas sector is automatically considered a high security concern due to the debilitating effects it has on national development.
“The threat not only affects the economy but degrades and pollutes our environment; destroys our land and aquatic life; loss of livelihood and reduces our foreign exchange inflow,” he added.
Abubakar said he had recently directed all NSCDC zonal commanders, state commandants and heads of anti-vandal units to eliminate oil theft and pipeline vandalism from their domain.
