Follow Us on Google
By Bimbola Oyesola
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) yesterday, charged the Inspector General of Police to punish officers colluding with cartels in the Niger Delta to divert crude oil for selfish gain.
Speaking during the union’s nationwide rally held simultaneously in Abuja, Warri and Port-Harcourt on Thursday, the PENGASSAN President, Festus Osifo who led members from Unity Fountain to Louis Edet House, Force headquarters in Abuja, to drop the protest letter to the Inspector General of Police for onward transmission to President Muhammadu Buhari, said it was not sufficient enough for the police to change officers found culpable.
According to Osifo, severe punishment must be meted to defaulting officers to serve as deterrent to others.
Osifo, lamented that currently, there are significant collusion going on the Niger Delta and now is the time for well meaning Nigerians to close ranks.
He said that with the quantity of crude oil being siphoned on a daily basis, could endanger the lives of unborn children if government fails to act fast.
“What the government is doing is that they are putting the future of our children and those yet unborn in jeopardy. It will get to a time that we will no longer be capable of servicing debts. It will get to a time as a nation when we are going to default, our naira will turn to banana.
“If that happens, we will need a truckload of naira to buy a loaf of bread, just as it happened in Zimbabwe. We must shout before it gets to that time. Now is the time for well meaning Nigerians to come together to chase these oil thieves away. Let’s chase these vandals beyond the shores of this country. Those that are apprehended, must be prosecuted,” he said.
Receiving the protest letter on behalf of the IGP, the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations, Bala Senchi, assured the workers that their letter would be delivered to the IGP, adding that their demands would be given immediate action.
He urged them to peacefully go about their normal activities without breaking the law.
Similarly at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Towers, the Group General Manager, Security, NNPC, Abba Mohammed, who received the protest letter on behalf of the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC, advocated that to curb oil theft and nip pipeline vandalisation into the bud, Nigeria needs perception management and sensitisation, as well as the need to deal and radicalize behavioral patterns of oil thieves.
