SAN faults deployment of militants to guard pipelines
Headlines, Niger Delta, Oil Politics Friday, January 17th, 2014

| credits: File copy
The deployment of militants to guard the country’s pipelines has been described as an indictment on the Federal Government.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Adeniyi Akintola, stated this in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Thursday, adding that the continued incidences of bunkering and other forms of oil theft were an indictment on the Federal Government.
Akintola stated that oil theft had negatively impacted on Nigeria’s economy.
He called for urgent proactive and pragmatic strategies to stem the phenomenon and save the economy from collapsing.
Akintola said, “You are talking of stealing of oil and bunkering? We have a government who put militant in charge of oil pipelines.
“But what is the work of the Nigerian Navy, the Air Force, the Army, the Police and the civil defense corps? Have they been funded very well?
“Do you know how much that was reported to have been paid to a particular militant to monitor and police the pipeline?”
Akintola, who has been a member of the Disciplinary Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association from 1998 to date, accused the Federal Government of encouraging corruption by awarding oil pipeline surveillance contracts to some ex-militants.
He called for the adequate funding of Security agencies in the country for the effective and efficient discharge of their statutory responsibilities and functions.
According to him, awarding contracts for security and surveillance of oil pipelines and facilities to ex-militants was capable of institutionalising corruption.
Akintola said, “That is pure corruption! When you left the institutions charged with the responsibility of security of lives and properties and protecting the resources of the country without funding it well and without equipping it.
“In advanced countries, there are many aircraft that engage in surveillance. A serious government invests heavily in security of lives and properties.
“Why not equip our Air Force and the Nigerian Navy as well as other security agencies? If they have necessary equipment, there will not be any bunkering and oil theft.
“Today it is Niger Delta, if oil is also discovered in the South-West, then you have to give Oodua Peoples Congress sufficient funds to monitor the pipelines. That is the signal the government is sending.”
-Punch
wp_posts
Related Posts
- CDS Musa’s visa denial: Tigran Gambaryan of Binance slams Ribadu for attacking Canada
- Canada grants immigration officers power to revoke Temporary Resident visas
- Kemi Badenoch says immigrants must wait 15 years to become British citizens
- Reps propose creation of Etiti, Lagoon, Warri, Okun, 27 other new States
- WHO meets as U.S. withdrawal deals blow to budget
Short URL: https://newnigerianpolitics.com/?p=35127