BY CHRIS OCHAYI
ABUJA— DETERMINED to stamp out illegal oil bunkering activities
in the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the
Nigerian Navy have agreed to work together to curtail the crude oil theft and
other social crimes in the nation’s maritime waters.
NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Joseph Dawha during a
courtesy call on the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin in Abuja,
emphasized the need for the corporation and the Nigerian Navy to strengthen
ties for the socio-economic growth and stability of the nation.
Dawha applauded the Navy for its tremendous support to the NNPC
and its partners in fostering and ensuring a secure environment for its
personnel, facilities and operations, stressing, “the Navy has supported the
corporation in securing its assets and facilities in the upstream, midstream
and downstream of the oil and gas industry.”He added that the aggressive
patrols and surveillance have led to the arrest of pirates and illegal
bunkerers over the years.
He said that “the gallant security presence of the Navy has gone
a long way in stabilizing NNPC operations in Escravos, Warri, Port Harcourt,
Bonny, Atlas Cove in Lagos and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC
operations in Benin city and environs.
Dr. Dawha expressed the readiness of the NNPC to sustain the
engagement with the Navy and other security personnel especially in the areas
of pipeline security, vandalism, crude and product theft and the associated
crimes of kidnapping and abduction of oil workers on the near shore, offshore
and deep water.
In his response, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman
Jibrin, reassured the GMD and the top management of the NNPC of the Navy’s
continuous support in reducing oil theft, illegal bunkering, piracy and
poaching to its barest minimum.
He said that activities of oil bunkers and illegal refiners have
given the country a negative image and the Navy is determined to chase the
perpetrators of these nefarious acts out of business for the common good of the
country.
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