The Integrity Youth Alliance has said that Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is sincere about the true cause(s) of crude oil theft in the country and not reeling out exaggerated figures to save its face.
According to a press release on Monday, 5th December 2022 jointly signed by the Board Chairman of Integrity Youth Alliance, Comrade Adewole Kehinde and National Coordinator of the Integrity Youth Alliance, Kelvin Adegbenga, said that it is on record that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited discovered a 4-km illegal pipeline in Delta State which prompted the NNPC Limited to contract Tompolo’s firm to secure the pipelines in the Niger Delta region.
The statement read, “The illegal 4 km pipeline is said to have been in operation for nine years, almost two years before the inauguration of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. It was after the discovery by the NNPC Limited that prompted the Nigerian Navy to launch Operation Dakatar De Barawo, a Hausa word for ‘Stop The Thief’, on April 1, 2022.
“To further show the sincerity of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, on Friday, 7th October 2022, the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd., Mele Kyari, and the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor declared that an extensive investigation will be conducted into the newly discovered illegal pipeline.
“The GCEO said and we quote “We are presently getting massive support from the intervention of the government security agencies notably the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Army, the NSCDC, etc as we have seen the massive campaign in this regard as coordinated by the Chief of Defence Staff. The intervention is paying off.”
“If the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is not sincere about the true cause(s) of crude oil theft in the country, the GCEO wouldn’t have invited the Chief of Defence Staff to crack down on oil theft.
“We call on the Nigerian Navy to come out clean because if they are doing their work well, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited wouldn’t have hired Tompolo’s firm to secure the pipelines in the Niger Delta region.
“We hereby commend the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited for creating a platform ‘Crude Theft Monitoring Applications’ for members of host communities and other Nigerians to report incidents of oil theft and get rewarded.
“We reliably gathered that the GCEO of the NNPC guarantees absolute privacy on any such report that comes as no one will be exposed, the statement concluded.
