Nigerian military seek collaboration with petroleum ministry to curb oil theft, others

General Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) has pledged support for the Ministry of petroleum, in its fight against oil theft, pipeline vandalism in Nigeria.

Musa disclosed this during a working visit to the Heineken Lokpobiri, the minister of state for Petroleum Resources (Oil) in Abuja on Thursday.

According to the CDS, the collaboration will synchronize the activities of both organizations to ensure that the Niger Delta region and all areas where oil production is going, is giving the full security support needed to boost production.

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“We know all the challenges that we are facing, some of them directly some are them indirectly, but we want to assure you that the Armed Forces of Nigeria is fully in support of you and your ministry, and we will continue to provide the necessary support to ensure that the country benefits from the God given sources that we have.

“I want to congratulate you for so far since you came in, things are looking very, very positive. Lots of improvements within the area. A lot of the issues we’re having challenges with like the illegal refineries, the pollution of the environment and all these things have gone down drastically and production is going up.

“This is a show that we’re really hitting the ground running. And that’s want to appeal to all Nigerians to join hands together with you and security forces to ensure that we secure whatever it is that God has given us because if we don’t take advantage of it now, we don’t know tomorrow. We know how dynamic the world is now things are changing very fast. So we need to really be able to benefit from what we have so that the economy can thrive. Well, once it does that, I’m sure security it will improve,” he said.

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Lokpobiri in his remarks noted the importance of the collaboration, stating that the oil and gas sector remains the most proven means of addressing problems in the economy.

He said, “If we reduce the level of oil vandalism, we will be able to fund major aspect of the economy. There is no country in the world that does not prioritise oil and gas sector, or its investments and security of its national assets.

“This visit is for us to put a round peg on a round hole as part of our objective to is to reduce pipeline vandaliation and oil theft to bearest minimum so that we benefit from the oil and gas sector.

“We will work closely with you and give the needed support to reduce the menace of pipeline vandalization, illegal refining to barest minimum.

“The government has the obligation to increase production, and provide feedstock for our local refineries, that way we can harness the full benefits of the sector and our mandate is to manage the oil and gas sector, and provide needed support to address the problems.”