ON FIRE: The scene at Bugama, Asari Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State where Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Pathfinder, Port Harcourt destroyed illegal crude oil refineries…yesterday.
The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS), Pathfinder, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has threatened illegal refining sites.
This is coming after its destroyed illegal bunkering and refining sites in the state two weeks ago. The Nation reports that the Commander of the NNS Pathfinder, Commodore Shuwa Mohammed, addressed newsmen yesterday, Sunday, September 6, that four suspects, had approached the naval officers, bribing them to stop preventing illegal bunkery. They were however nabbed would be handed over to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
“Ironically, while setting the refinery ablaze, four out of the fleeing oil thieves came back and offered us a bribe of N600,000 to leave the refinery. “The four suspects were subsequently arrested and would be handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for investigation and prosecution,” he said.
Mohammed further said that instead of the federal government to keep destroying the illegal bunkery, there is the need to educate Nigerians about it. He further revealed how many artisanal/illegal refineries, hidden under the mangrove forest, were discovered during an aerial surveillance. He said there are over 33,000 creeks in the Niger Delta. NNS Pathfinder monitors more than 1,000 of the creeks and waterways.
The commander, who was represented by the Base Operation Officer, Commander Chidi Ejiofor, said no oil thief can hide in the country. Mohammed said: “The mop-up ordered by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas, is part of a series of operations lined up to end incessant crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in Rivers State. “During the aerial surveillance, many new illegal refineries were sighted, which prompted troops’ mobilisation. “In the course of our operations, an illegal refinery with 15 storage metal tanks, loaded with 145,000 litres of stolen crude oil, was set ablaze in Buguma, Asari-Toru LGA of Rivers State. “It is difficult to maintain 24-hour presence in all the creeks and oil facilities, especially considering the shallowness of some of the creeks, making them near impossible to patrol.”
Meanwhile, Department of State Service (DSS) on August 29, 2015, foiled a plan by Boko Haram militants to bomb the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport using a fourteen-year-old boy.
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