The Federal Government has said robust intelligence and increased practical approach is needed to effectively tackle oil theft and rising insecurity in the country.
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, stated this in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Tuesday, where he inaugurated eight armoured gunboats.
The E-27 Special Edition Gunboats were built by an indigenous company, Epenal Group of Companies Nigeria Limited, for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
Aregbesola said oil theft posed grave danger to the nation’s economy and the environment.
He said, “On behalf of the President, Muhammadu Buhari, I am happy to commission eight armoured gunboats built in Nigeria, by Nigerians for the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps in our bid to arrest crude oil theft and oil pipeline vandalism.
“These criminal activities pose existential threat to the oil sector and by extension, the Nigerian economy, as well as our environment, if not curbed.
“The worst of all the effects of pipeline vandalism is the environmental degradation, communities will lose their means of livelihood, and the environment will be degraded so badly that nothing else can happen.
“We need a robust intelligence and increased practical approach which armaments and facilities like these (gunboats) will give us. We can effectively deal with these challenges to our economy.”
The NSCDC Commandant General, Dr Ahmed Abubakar, in his address, affirmed that the newly commissioned gunboats would boost the morale of the corps in combating the menace of crude oil theft along the waterways.
“The NSCDC is generally expected to effectively, safeguard critical infrastructure and oil installations central and vital to the socio-economic development of the nation,” Abubakar said.
