•Bayelsa govt clarifies position on surveillance contract
From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla has declared that there is no going back in the efforts of the Nigerian Navy to fight crude oil thieves in the Niger Delta region.
Ogalla who stated this when he visited the Central Naval Command (CNC) in Yenagoa and the Joint Task Force Operation Delta Safe, Igbogene, both in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, said the increase in oil production in the past six months was attributed to the good job done by his officers and men in oil-producing areas.
According to him, oil production which was 700,000 barrels per day increased to 1.7 million barrels per day, after his troops took over security duties in the areas and used an intelligence driven approach.
He disclosed that the Navy took an assessment tour of its formations in June 2023 and came up with a plan that involved communities and sister agencies.
Ogalla noted that this approach has led to the seizure of several vessels involved in oil theft as well as criminal elements.
The Naval boss decried the activities of some unscrupulous personnel, stressing that a mechanism would be put in place to continue to identify the bad eggs.
“I want to state that the environment we are operating in is a very complex one in the sense that the criminals have a lot of resources and reach they can employ to give a bad image to those who are fighting them. So, we are not surprised by their push back and all their antics they have employed to give the Nigerian Navy a bad image.
“But as a professional organization and as people who are well trained, we will never be deterred.
“Our work will speak for us. We will continue to do our best, arrest these criminals, deal with them squarely in such a way they will know that whatever propaganda they use will not affect us,” he said.
Meanwhile the Bayelsa State Government has faulted media reports that it called for cancellation of oil pipeline surveillance contracts awarded by the federal government to some private security firms in the country.
Governor Douye Diri in a press statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Daniel Alabrah who clarified the position of the state government as stated by the deputy governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, during the visit of Ogalla, on Monday to Government House, Yenagoa, said Diri advocated for the strengthening of the Nigerian Navy to enable it perform its constitutional role of tackling the country’s security challenges and protecting of its maritime assets.
Diri who pointed out that the state government had never been against engaging non-state actors in oil pipeline surveillance but that they ought to be supervised by the country’s conventional security organs.
The governor further stated that the government’s call for a review of the current pipeline surveillance arrangement is that the Niger Delta states should be involved in order to create room for more inconclusiveness.
He also explained that the inclusion of the states would prevent a situation where the non-state actors engaged in pipeline surveillance take the laws into their hands at their different operational areas.