FG LAUNCHES EIGHT GUNBOATS TO FIGHT OIL THEFT 

The Federal Government has commissioned eight gunboats to fight crude oil theft, illegal oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism in the country to a logical end.

 A press statement by the spokesman of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Olusola Odumosu said “in her resolve to end the menace of crude oil theft, illegal oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism in the nation, the Federal Government through the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has commissioned eight NSCDC gunboats to wage a full scale war against the perpetrators of this heinous crime.”

He noted that the move became necessary to strengthen the combative capacity of NSCDC Anti Vandalism Squad in stemming the tide of huge revenue loss to the Federal Government in the oil sector. 

Rauf Aregbesola, while performing the official inauguration of the gunboats in Port Harcourt, described the incidences of oil theft as an organized crime ridding the nation of accrued revenue running to million of dollars annually. 

The Minister of Interior, said the country in recent past had recorded various occurrences of crude oil theft and reports has shown that the country loses million of dollars daily such that, of the 141 million barrels of oil produced in the 1st quarter of year 2022, only 132 million barrels of oil were received at export terminals; the aftermath results further reveal that over 9 million barrels of oil was lost to crude oil theft. He decried the negative impacts of crude oil theft and oil pipeline vandalism in the nation.

He however called on all security agencies to shun Inter-agency rivalries and synergize by supporting the fight against oil theft in order to salvage and rid the nation’s economy of saboteurs.

The Minister further maintained that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps as the lead agency in Safeguarding Critical National Assets and Infrastructure is mandated to use the available logistics provided by the Government to reduce crime rate and by extension take the war against crude oil theft to the camp of the enemies.