WHO WANTS MELE KYARI DEAD?

By Alao Abiodun 

And Mele Kyari cried. The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) recently sounded the alarm on his travails as a hunted man.

“There is a threat to life, I can say this, I have several death threats but we are not bothered about this, we believe that no one dies unless it is his time.

“But this is the cost of change. When people move away from what they are used to and are faced with something new that will take away value and benefit from them, they will react. That reaction is beneficial to all of us and we will work together to make sure it works out“ he said.

Kyari made this known on Wednesday in Abuja at the Legislative Transparency and Accountability summit organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption.

The summit was titled, 'Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in the Oil and Gas Sector: Challenges and Prospects.' The NNPC boss said that as a result of the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), a lot of changes are ongoing that affect the old order.

He said the company had taken down several illegal oil refineries affecting the volume of oil production in the country. As a result of the activities and effects of the illegal refineries, daily crude oil production had been reduced by 700,000 barrels, he said.

Kyari had blamed various sections of the society for being complicit in the theft of millions of barrels of crude oil, mentioning even that make-shift pipelines and stolen fuel have been found in churches and mosques.

During the crackdown, illegal refineries, reservoirs, and metal tanks for storage purposes were destroyed, and seized trucks were burned. Also, vessels, speed boats, trucks and cars were impounded, while different suspects were arrested in connection with various cases of theft of petroleum products.

It has been outlined that the bigger culprits are political and economic elites. Even the federal government had promised to expose the names of prominent figures responsible for crude oil theft in the nation.

Indeed, the timeless saw which hol ds that there is no smoke without fire aptly captures Kyari's recent outcry that there are threats to his life.

While Kyari alleged a threat to his life, a circus of adversaries has reportedly been mobilised against him by certain powerful figures angered by his moves to curtail oil theft and save Nigeria revenue running into trillions of naira.

The NNPCL chief who did not mention those behind the threat to his life justified the decision to engage the oil pipeline surveillance team, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, led by Tompolo, arguing it was aimed at curtailing the massive theft of oil in the country.

Kyari lamented that the scale of theft was enormous and that the NNPCL had taken down thousands of illegal refineries in the past 45 months. The magnitude of financial hurt has put Nigeria in dire straits. The cost to the economy is huge, he noted.

Over the years, the quantum of financial losses Nigeria incurred as a result of crude oil theft necessitated some reforms and collaboration with security agencies to clamp down on oil thieves and saboteurs.

Persistent oil theft and pipeline vandalism had foisted on the country a calamitous situation; the oil sector experienced low production as operating facilities were shut down.

As part of measures aimed at boosting the level of security for the country's oil assets, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, and the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ahmed Abubakar Audi, held series of meetings with the governors of the Niger Delta states, and several crackdown operations were conducted.

The federal government also launched the 'Crude Theft Monitoring Application,' a platform created for members of host communities and other Nigerians to report incidents of oil theft.

Source: Nation Newspaper