Workers in the oil and gas sector on Tuesday raised the alarm over the spate of insecurity in Nigeria, saying it was becoming increasingly difficult for members of their families to travel as they have become easy target of kidnappers, robbers and bandits.
The workers under the joint umbrella body of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (NUPENGASSAN), stated this at a media briefing in Lagos just as they called on the Federal Government to immediately nation’s security architecture.
Ndukaku Ohaeri, president of PENGASSAN, who addressed the media alongside Williams Akporeha, president of NUPENG, lamented the recent killing of an oil and gas worker along Owerri-Okigwe road by bandits, warning that unless drastic measures were taken to stem the tide, the unions might be forced to “review its position” as against just appealing.
“For us as concerned relevant stakeholders, it has become necessary and expedient for us at a time like this to urgently alert the Federal Government of the grave dangers that the current situation is posing on the image of our country and the multiplying impacts on the livelihood of the citizenry; we therefore call on the government and those saddled with the responsibility of securing lives and properties to rise to the occasion and stem the tide of insecurity and other emerging crimes in order to protect and stabilise our overall socio-economic and political interests,” the unions said.
While, however, acknowledging the roles played by some patriotic security officers, they pointed out the need for security agencies to purge themselves of the bad eggs among them.
“As those directly affected by the negative effects the kidnappings, killings and assassinations which have put the lives of our members and the general public in danger, we like draw the attention of the top echelon of the security agencies to the rot in their respective organisations and implore them to tackle the issue by smoking out the bad eggs within their folds.
We should have security agencies that the people can trust to offer useful intelligence reports and our security officers should be properly trained, equipped and motivated enough to act on such information to smash these criminal gangs before they strike,” the unions said.
JOSHUA BASSEY
