The African Representative of the World Assembly of Youths, Mr. Marvin Yobana says top government officials and other people close to the Federal Government as well as multinational companies have been accused of benefiting from oil bunkering activities in the Niger Delta region.
The youth leader who made the allegation in Port Harcourt yesterday during a chat with newsmen, also accused the Federal Government of not being sincere in its fight against oil theft. Yobana maintained that what is going on in the Niger Delta is “official theft regulated by the authorities”. He said unless government stops protecting and prosecutes top officials behind the act, it would continue.
“The theft of crude oil in Nigeria has gone beyond community thieves. It has gone beyond that up to the point that multinational companies’ load where the stealing takes place. What is happening now
is official theft being regulated by the authorities. Top government officials are indirectly beneficiaries of this theft and until they are made to face the law, oil theft will continue,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Armed Forces has donated four gun boats to the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) Operation Pulo Shield to combat oil bunkering in Rivers and Bayelsa States.
The Sector Commander of JTF Operation Pulo Shield, Brigadier General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, while receiving the gun boats on Tuesday, said they had the necessary speed capacity to intercept oil thieves.
“We received four gunboats from the Chief of Army Staff to assist us in the fight against oil thieves in the Niger Delta. Specifically in Rivers and Bayelsa States, we have four of them and they are all equipped with two heavy guns,” he said.
He added that the JTF has recorded success in the fight against oil thieves, pointing out that several illegal refineries and trucks loaded with products from bunkering sites were intercepted and set ablaze.
Source: OgoniNews
