In a bid to check the activities of the oil thieves in the state, Chukwuma Soludo, the governor, has charged the Nigerian Navy and other security agencies to join forces with his government to curb the menace.
Soludo was speaking when Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla paid him a courtesy visit at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia on Friday.
While commending the Navy and their formidable collaborations with other security agencies, he revealed that there is increased need for Navy presence in the State because of the oil theft and bunkering going on at the Ogwuikpele area of the state.
“It has become existential threat in the South east, but with your strategic appointment, there is this voice, to uproot the criminals and profile them for who they are.
“We deserve to have a liveable and prosperous Anambra state”, Soludo said.
The governor praised the Navy and indeed, all security agencies operating in the state, for the sacrifices and described their job as a calling that should be respected.
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Speaking earlier, Vice Admiral Ogalla recalled that the Naval Outpost in Onitsha was established with assistance from the state government, assuring that they will redouble their efforts to do more to ensure that peace returns in the region.
He decried a situation where sit at home persists and criminal gangs parade themselves as people who dictate what happens as an aberration with the tendency of drawing the region backwards.
BusinessDay gathered that the illegal exploration of oil has worsened in the last three years by two unlicensed oil firms.
Their activities have led to large-scale environmental degradation in communities of Ogwuanocha , Ogwuikpele , Umunankwo and Osamalla. Aquatic life have been affected by pollution while farm lands have been destroyed.
Chris Okwuosa, a community leader in Ogwuanocha, said: “The oil thieves have been there for over three years and they do not have the government backing to take our oil away and government appears not to be aware of this.
“Everyday over 20 trucks that carry 45,000 litres of oil products each come to Ogwuikpele and Ogwuanocha to steal our oil and they pass through Umunankwo and Osamalla and use batches to carry those products through the water ways of Ogakuba and Ochuche to those doing bunkering and mini refineries in Oguta in Imo state”
To this end the communities have appealed to both the state and federal governments to arrest the situation and bring the culprits to book.
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